Portraits by John Maggie, so much more that you bargained for.

It is daunting to even consider summing up the MOCAD’s stunning “People’s Biennial 2014,” which opened on Friday, September 12th and will run through January 5th of next year. Before anything else is said, a huge tip of the hat is due to curators Harrell Fletcher and Jens Hoffman, and the entire crew of the MOCAD, for a truly Herculean feat of installation, showcasing an outstanding assortment of under-the-radar art.

Statuary carved out of old sandstone foundations, salvaged from demolition sites.

An apocalypse reading room/listening station.

Imagine a miniature art trailer park, full of little, shed-sized encampments, each housing the work of 17 recognized artists, selected by the curators, who then selected creative individuals personally known to them, but mostly unknown in the mainstream art world—to create a mini-village of collaborative installations. The pairing range all over the United States, and denote a wide range of relationships.

One in a series of charming collaborations by woman-child duo Carson Ellis and Hank Meloy.

Bridges and schematics by Colter Jacobsen and Lance Rivers.

Just a piece of the action inside “Uncle Jimbo’s Lizard Shack.”

Truly, I cannot begin to describe it, and will leave that work to a myriad of images from the evening, but I am determined to return once a week for an advent-calendar-style approach, taking installations one-by-one through the run of the show.

Message in a bottle.

Your moment of Zen.

Taken all at once, the night was an overwhelming art extravaganza, especially including the opening of the first iteration of “Detroit Affinities,” the exhibition component of the multi-year program DETROIT CITY. The first to be featured in these 10 sequential solo exhibitions, which intersperse five Detroit-based artists and five artists living elsewhere, is the amazingly tactile work of John Maggie. Maggie’s portraits of men are shockingly tense and invasive, with the layering of intensive textural objects and layered paint elevating a range of soft-core subjects to a pitch both erotic and grotesque.

“Sweet and Sour Cowboy” (2014) and “Old Style Cowboy” (2013).

While semi-nude subjects tend to easily fall prey to objectification, the texture, intense outward gazes and odd backgrounds of Maggie’s portraits give the viewer the strong impression of being the one on the receiving end of the objectification—a somewhat icky yet somewhat irresistible sensation that both repels and invites closer examination.

Some of the opening night crowd.

Music, a revamped cafe and much revelry!

All in all, a full evening, with much left to ponder. Outstanding accolades to all the hard work put in by the MOCAD to create an explosive Fall program!

MOCAD: 4454 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-832-6622; www.mocadetroit.org