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Bakpak Durden 🎒

@bakpakdurden

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Artist | Alchemist | Mystic
Postgender
FREE THE OPPRESSED
[weary music rises]
🖨️ @downpaperstreet

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Some more details and install of “Sit Tight”
🐍 🕯️
Currently on view in Hold The Vision @opengallerylb until Aug 9th

#OilPainting #AfroSurrealism #NewContemporary by @bakpakdurden

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a year ago

@bakpakdurden x @kesswa_ for @muralsinthemarket 2025

Located in the alley across from @easternmarketbrewing

We aimed to capture a realignment and convergence in KESSWA’s interdisciplinary practice drawing from her background in musical improv by highlighting the spontaneity, joy, and connection in these quick sketches, while remaining faithful to the Afro-Surreal framework.

The muse receiving the sketch is @iamrimarkable , a fellow musician who understood the improvisational aspect of Kes’ practice and fully trusted the process.

I feel so lucky and grateful to collaborate with my extremely talented, multifaceted artist friends! I’m especially appreciative of the trust they’ve placed in me during these collaborations.

There’s more to say but I’ve run out of words so… check it out and tell me what ya think.

Oh yea, Kesswa told me to tell y’all that I’m also a licensed hair guy, and have worked in the trade forrrr 11ish years.

Anyway, enough about me…

You can also experience these hair art sketches live as part of @4am__nyc Nightscape, a really cool monthly @ufobardetroit

Shoutout to the whole MITM team, @thecolorblocdetroit for alllllll of this paint and huuuuge shoutout to @easternmarketbrewing for keeping my cup full all week long. Cheers.

Image Descriptions (short n sweet)
1. Completed mural of hands braiding hair
2. Same same, but further away
3. Signature
4. Kesswa for scale, sorta
5. Me being big dog

Til next time ✌🏾 Stay groovy.

#MTN94 #FuturePast #Mural by @bakpakdurden

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a year ago

New mural alert! 🔔 For Free City Mural Fest 2026
522 Buckham Alley, Flint, MI
@flintpublicart

An alley within an alley = 2 views baby!!
Thank you for having me! 💀🤪

#flintmurals #flintpublicartproject #freecitymuralfestival #mural #afrosurrealism taken in Flint Michigan by @bakpakdurden

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a month ago

💫 new article feature with @pridesourcemedia.
Thank you @uvegotmell for the lovely time and writing.
Link in bio. by @bakpakdurden

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2 months ago

A thing is happening soon…
The 33rd Annual Alain Locke Awards
Sunday, February 22 at 2pm

The Detroit Institute of Arts’ Friends of African and African American Art Auxiliary will honor multimedia artist Alison Saar with the 33rd annual Alain Locke Award on February 22nd, 2026. Saar’s lecture, Hither and Yon, and will draw from her 45-year career in making art in response to struggles of women and African Americans in their pursuit of equity and justice.

Saar was born in Los Angeles, California in 1956. She earned her BA in art and art history in 1978 from Scripps College in Claremont, CA. She received her MFA from the Otis Art Institute of the Parson’s School of Design in Los Angeles in 1981. Her career took off in the mid-1980s while she was an artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Saar grew up with a wide array of artistic influences, including the assemblage works of her mother, artist Betye Saar, the techniques and restoration practices of her father, ceramicist and conservator, Richard Saar, and frequent exposure to art books and museums. She repurposes found materials such as wood, bronze, soil, and kitchen pans, in her sculptures and installations. Saar combines these materials with references to African, African American, Latin American and Haitian cultures and religions to explore issues of race, gender, and identity throughout her oeuvre.

Bakpak Durden will receive the Alain Locke Recognition Award. Durden’s work, including large-scale murals throughout Detroit’s communities, captures subjects in transitional states with Baroque and Afro-Surrealist influences.

Reception to Follow. Free with registration.
Register NOW at: dia.org/events

@diadetroit @alison_saar @faaaa_dia taken in Detroit Institute of Arts by @bakpakdurden

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8 months ago

Now on view in Southfield! 🖼️

Check out ‘Goldfinch’ a new mural by @bakpakdurden at the Southfield Arts and Activities Building.

This project is part of the DIA’s Partners in Public Art program, bringing community-driven, highly visible public murals within cities across Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties. taken in Southfield, Michigan by @bakpakdurden

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10 months ago

New online print drop of “Something About Healing or Something” with @1xrun for this years @muralsinthemarket in @easternmarket !!!
Limited edition of 35!

Get yours while supplies last!
Link in bio by @bakpakdurden

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a year ago

“Sēdibus (pre) Frontalis” currently on view @le_grand_palais with @detroitsalonofficial for Paris @artbasel

Photos by @chrissaundersphoto (last one by me) taken in Grand Palais - RMN (Officiel) by @bakpakdurden

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a year ago

Paris on Film Pt 2

#ProImage100 #Fujicolor100 #Kodacolor200 taken in Paris, France by @bakpakdurden

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a year ago

Paris on film Pt. 1

#Kodacolor200 #Fujicolor200 taken in Paris, France by @bakpakdurden

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a year ago

The other day, I had the pleasure of using giant scissors to dedicate my latest mural “Goldfinch” to the @city_of_southfield in collaboration with @diadetroit

Big scissors forever! ✂️

📸 @rabbitfoote

👍🏾 by @bakpakdurden

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a year ago

Print signing footage + @1xrun ambiance

Limited run of prints for @muralsinthemarket available at link in bio. ✌🏾 by @bakpakdurden

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a year ago