Artist Curtis Lewis II of Farmington Hills answers questions at the unveiling of his mural at Bert’s Warehouse jazz club in Detroit. Some personalities in the artwork include Nelson Mandela, Michael Jackson, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. / Tim Galloway/Special to the Free Press
Artist Curtis Lewis II was just starting on a mural depicting pop music legends at a Detroit nightclub when news broke about another legend — Nelson Mandela.
The South African leader’s Dec. 5 death got Lewis thinking, and he talked with his art patron Bert Dearing, owner of Bert’s Warehouse jazz club in Eastern Market.
The two made a quick decision: Above the faces of Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Elvis Presley, Etta James, Frank Sinatra and other music greats, Mandela’s smile should beckon. This week, Lewis unveiled his work of Mandela’s image crowning the mural of musicians, drawing applause from about 40 people in attendance.
“This is fabulous,” said Faune Carter, 66, of Southfield who heard about the unveiling on a radio show.
Once Dearing and Lewis settled on adding Mandela, Dearing wanted to balance the South African hero’s likeness with that of another icon of equality. So in the upper corner opposite Mandela’s perch, Lewis brushed on Martin Luther King Jr.
“I feel great about it,” said Dearing, 69, who founded his namesake jazz club in 1968.
Source: mydesert / MJ-Upbeat.com
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