Olayami Dabls, better known as ‘Dabls’, was born in Canton, Mississippi in 1948. He studied mechanical engineering and worked for Chevrolet Motors, but his art career began in 1975 after a serious car accident hospitalized him for several years. In the late 90s, he founded Dabls’ MBAD African Bead Museum and Gallery and began constructing innovative street art around his new property on Grand River Avenue. Iron Teaching Rocks How To Rust is the resulting installation, now almost 20 years old, which is perhaps the most celebrated feature of Detroit’s Grand River Creative Corridor. His newly-completed “Signs and Symbols” mural, on Wilkins Street in Eastern Market, features images of a bird and a snake surrounded by broken mirrors and multicolored dots.
