Freddy Diaz & Kelly Golden
682 E. Fisher Service Drive
2025 Murals in the Market
Multiple locations in Eastern Market
Detroit
This is part of a Midbrow series highlighting murals that were recently completed as part of the 10th anniversary of Murals in the Market, a mural festival in Detroit’s historic Eastern Market.
A sense of movement and space often define the best murals in Detroit.
With the latest work from Freddy Diaz and Kelly Golden, kinetic energy comes in bushels.
This unlikely pairing of artists created one of the largest and best murals at this year’s Murals in the Market, an acclaimed public art festival in Detroit’s Eastern Market. It’s celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
It’s like a snapshot of the outdoor market in action, with workers carrying baskets of flowers, apples and corn to be sold at market. For Diaz, it’s a nod to his parents, who worked as field workers in North Carolina before moving to Michigan.
“Many years later, it feels full circle to paint something dedicated not only to them but to all the hard working work in fields,” wrote Diaz. (“It was the first time they both came by to hang as I painted,” he told me via text.)
Stylistically, the workers Diaz painted draw some visual inspiration from the auto workers depicted in Diego Rivera’s “Detroit Industry” murals inside of the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Diaz is truly woven into the visual DNA of the city, starting as a young graffiti artist in southwest Detroit who would offer his services to local businesses and restaurants to help decorate their walls inside and out.
Golden is the same, an acclaimed sign painter who seems to be constantly in demand to paint exteriors of businesses throughout the city.
“Always so special to work in this neighborhood, home to some of my favorite hand-painted signs of all time,” wrote Golden. “Stoked to incorporate some of the iconic signage and architecture, and hope it speaks to the history and fabric of who and what make Eastern Market what it is today.”
For Golden’s part, her massive “EASTERN MARKET” signage is floated against a painted blue sky, adding a sense of depth to the whole piece. Below, arching entrances make it feel like the viewer is about to march into the mural and into one of the massive sheds that define the market itself and act as vendor sheds.
I wouldn’t have expected these two artists, with wildly different styles, to work so well together. But that unlikely pairing has captured the energy of the market like a photograph, with depth and movement and history. It’s without a doubt one of the best murals from this year’s festival.
