SUMMER HOURS (May 5 through August 15)
ELAINE L. JACOB GALLERY: Wednesday - Saturday: 12-5PM
ART DEPARTMENT GALLERY: CLOSED UNTIL SEPTEMBER
The Elaine L. Jacob Gallery will be closed on the follwing days: Friday, June 19 (Juneteenth Day); and July 3 & 4 (Independence Day) in accordrance with Wayne State University.
ELAINE L. JACOB GALLERY
UNDERGROUND – Keith Haring: Subway Drawings
Dates: April 17 through August 15, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, April 17, 5-8PM
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 12-5PM
ABOUT
The exhibition features 25 subway drawings created by Keith Haring from 1980-1985 in the New York City subway system. The works offer a glimpse of Haring’s graphic style and the development of his own visual language through line, patterns, symbols and semiotics that became iconic and recognizable due to its repetitious nature. The drawings were created to extend the experience and enjoyment of art to the wider public. Haring was inspired by public engagement, proclaiming that “art is for everyone".
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
ELAINE L. JACOB GALLERY
Hilos de Identidad:
Latino Voices of Detroit
September 18 through December 12, 2026
Opening reception: Friday, September 18, 5-8PM
Rooted in the heartbeat of close-knit barrios, spaces shaped by tradition, family, memory, and mutual care, Latino artists living and working across Detroit transform the uncertainties of everyday life into bold declarations of presence and pride. Hilos de Identidad: Latino Voices of Detroit honors the ways art becomes refuge and resonance: the vibrant colors of celebration, the weight of untold stories, all held within a city already defined by resilience.
This exhibition celebrates the impact of Latino artists, carrying their cultural inheritance and artistic legacy into a space where the city’s past and future intersect, contributing to the city’s ongoing transformation. At a time when identity and belonging are increasingly called into question, their work becomes a cultural footprint in motion.
Works by Brendan Fernandes
curated by Kelly Kivland
February 5 through April 24, 2027
Opening Reception: Friday, February 5, 5-8PM
Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is an internationally recognized Canadian artist working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. Currently based in Chicago, his practice addresses issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest, and other forms of collective movement. Constantly seeking to create new spaces and forms of agency, Fernandes’ work often takes on hybrid forms: part ballet, part queer dance party, part political protest always rooted in collaboration and fostering solidarity. Fernandes is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program (2007) and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Robert Rauschenberg Residency Fellowship (2014), a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2020), an Artadia Award (2019), a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant (2019), and most recently, the Platform Award (2024). In 2024, he was also honored with the Creative Voice Award by Arts Alliance Illinois. His work has been presented at prestigious venues such as the 2019 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Chicago), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC), among many others. Fernandes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Theory, and Practice at Northwestern University. He is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago and Susan Inglett Gallery in New York. Recent and upcoming projects include performances and solo presentations at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation (St. Louis, MO), the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (Denver, CO), the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA), and Prospect.6 (New Orleans, LA). In spring 2026, a major new commission and solo exhibition will debut at the Art Denver (Denver, CO), the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA), and Prospect.6.