Diamond Follow

Artist Gordon Newton (American, 1948-2019)

Date1975

MediumCanvas, paint, polyester resin, synthetic fabric on wood, found objects

Dimensions112 × 59 × 39 1/2 in. (284.5 × 149.9 × 100.3 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of James Pearson Duffy, 1992

Object numberUAC1355

DescriptionAs strongly associated as the art of the Cass Corridor is with Detroit’s post-industrial urban milieu, Gordon Newton readily noted the influence of the natural environment on his work as well — of “the pine trees, the Great Lakes, the cycles of nature that I see,” as he explained in 1978. “I hope to suggest these cycles and the passage or even freezing of time in my work.” 1975’s Diamond Follow, considered one of Newton’s masterpieces, is made from a sheet plywood attached to an easel, and initially suggests a roadside sign, of the kind warning of construction ahead. Whatever this sign’s message was, it has been overwritten by rips, gaps, and gouges — injuries inflicted upon the wood by Newton with power tools — and by ragged scraps of canvas, stuck to the surface with resin and mottled in shades of black and green that suggest both decomposition and natural reclamation. The back of the piece has a behind-the-scenes feel, scrawled with notes and doodles, including geometric shapes, an apparent shout-out to British painter JMW Turner (a favorite of Newton’s), and the name of the villain from a 1940s mystery novel, as well as the artist’s initials. One element on the back is crucial: a boxy metal seed spreader, in John Deere green, mounted at the peak of the easel. It’s an artificial object, but one designed to facilitate natural growth. Diamond Follow is suspended between four poles, like the four corners of the diamond: human-made creation, human-made destruction, natural creation, and natural destruction, thus linking the cycles Newton observed “up north” and the rhythms of life in the crumbling but still-vital city.

Text by Sean Bieri

Born in Detroit in 1948, Newton migrated around the Midwest with his family for a time before settling back in the city in 1969 and beginning his art studies at Wayne State. Local critic Marsha Miro called Newton “the prototypical Cass Corridor artist”; indeed, his rough-hewn assemblages are so closely linked with the scene that his work appears on the covers of two books on Corridor art, including the catalog to the important 1980 DIA show, Kick Out The Jams. Though many believe he could have succeeded at the national level, he was ill at ease in the New York art world, and generally averse to the spotlight. He remained a lifelong Detroiter, and died in his home on the southwest side in 2019 at the age of 71. Fellow artist Nancy Mitchnick said in his obituary that Newton, “was a kind of space alien… brilliant beyond comprehension, but… a brat too. I always longed to make work like Gordie. It pulled you in deep.”

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