The work currently occupying half of the Re:View Gallery, at 444 W. Willis St in the heart of the Cass Corridor, is “Forever the Future,” an exhibition of conceptual art by Detroit artist Megan Heeres. Her work seems to discuss the interplay between creator and creative mechanisms, boldly inviting the viewer to consciously consider artistic processes typically concealed within the studio (or at any rate, not usually featured as part of the show). While one school of art seeks to mystify, with the goal of making the viewer wonder how the work was accomplished, Heeres’ work features and celebrates the “jigs,” which produce the pieces on display.

This is most notably the case with “Home. Home. Grown” — a vertical chain of plastic funnels rigged above a series of canvasses, upon which colorful liquid pigments drip, continuously forming new work throughout the run of the show. What began as a wall full of blank canvasses has, over the weeks since the March 17 opening, evolved into a wide array of “grown” pieces. Though the new canvasses are invisibly exchanged, a small ladder leaning against the wall next to the piece seems to suggest the art gallery equivalent of shoemaker elves at work in the process.

A large handmade book called “In Time Between,” the pages strung together like train cars rather than center-bound, is spread out upon a raised platform bisecting the gallery. It was hard for me to decide if I felt forced to interact with the book by its unavoidable location or tempted to do so by the array of colors and textures layered among the pages, but either way enjoyed experimenting with the endless combinations made possible by shifting the pages into different trains of art.

My favorite piece was “How I Go” — a set of meticulously decorated gears threaded together and running in slow, perpetual motion. The black shapes that anchor the adornment of each gear were made through an ink drop process that incorporated the same rotation of the gears in the making as well as the display of the work. Throughout the show, I found my attention baited with flashy concentrations of color, then invited to consider Heeres’ process as an artist.

Historically, I have had an untrusting relationship with conceptual art and greatly enjoyed the opportunity provided by “Forever the Future,” continuing on display until April 14, as an opportunity to stretch my comfort zone as a viewer. Whatever the future may hold for us, it seems Heeres at least has quite a comfortable fix on the now.

All photos by Sarah Sharp.

Re:View Gallery: 444 Willis St. #112, 313-833-9000, reviewcontemporary.com