JUNE 8 • 2023 | 47

Midtown Detroit Inc. believes Reshef’s 
mural will elevate the neighborhood even 
further, a welcoming addition amongst the 
many areas of growth Midtown has expe-
rienced in recent years, such as a boom 
of new restaurants, shops and residential 
buildings.
“Midtown Detroit Inc. believes the beauty 
of this piece was a great fit for the architec-
ture of this interesting commercial property 
and elevates the level of design 
in the district,
” explains Susan 
T. Mosey, its executive director.
The once-blighted building 
sat peeling and fading until 
March, when Reshef’s mural 
gave it a new facelift. Still, the 
benefits go beyond simply 
beautifying Detroit’s existing 
architecture.
Ongoing research from 
Bloomberg Philanthropies 
found that cities that incorpo-
rate street art are much safer 
for pedestrians, associating 
the incorporation of art with 
slower vehicle speeds and half the amount 
of crashes with pedestrians. 
Installing the mural also created work 
opportunities. “The banner company 
utilized was based in the city of Detroit,
” 

Finkel says. “I’m glad that this type of proj-
ect can help bring jobs to the city.
”
While Finkel knows that one artist or one 
particular idea won’t transform an entire 
city, the goal is to work block-by-block and 
steadily create lasting change throughout 
Detroit.

CONNECTING THROUGH ART
Finkel, who regularly travels to Israel for 
networking and community-building initia-
tives in conjunction with his venture capital 
firm Orfin, was compelled by Reshef’s 
deeply emotional style of art. “Her work 
is often inspired by the story of Genesis 
and creation,
” he says. With her artwork 
displayed worldwide, he says Reshef’s style 
“brings vibrancy to the public spaces where 
it’s installed.
”
Reshef’s mural, which is just under 61 
feet across and 13 feet tall, is a kaleidoscope 
of colors, including blues, reds and yellows. 
“My art talks to people in a very emo-
tional way,
” Reshef, 59, explains. “It’s a very 
indirect way to connect to people.
”
She says she believes people experience 
themselves through art. With her work, in 
particular, viewers can reflect on the con-
cept of time. “Time has a very big impact 
on my art,
” Reshef says. “It takes a long time 
to create, and it takes time to collect the 

material I’m using for my art and paint it 
layer-by-layer.
”
As an advocate of using waste vegetation, 
or branches, petals, ferns and leaves col-
lected in streets and other urban settings in 
her art, Reshef imprints these “relics” onto 
her canvases and steadily builds upon them 
with numerous layers of paint.

Susan T. 
Mosey

JAMIE FELDMAN

Adam 
Finkel

continued on page 48

LEFT: Rotem Reshef at the Detroit Institute of Arts. ABOVE: You can find Reshef’s mural Open End on West Canfield just across from 
The Whitney in Midtown. BELOW: Reshef began work on the mural in March.

