Chillin’ Wit’ James Dupree, Mantua artist
“Dupree’s fight with the city over his 8,600-square-foot studio space, which boasts his colorful, whimsical artworks on almost every surface and an Airbnb suite available to rent, has grabbed headlines. The city took his deed in hopes of making way for a supermarket where his studios sit, on Haverford Avenue near 36th Street, and offered him barely a quarter of what his property is appraised for, Dupree says.
On this breezy afternoon, the artist takes a break from working on an upcoming project – a grand, impressive art installation he plans to pitch for a large city commission (details of which he says are top-secret), and replays an interview he gave last week on WURD-AM.
Dupree grins as he listens to his own voice rising as he becomes heated answering the interviewer’s questions about the battle for his beloved space, where he’s been for “nine winters” (“That’s how I measure time,” he says).”
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Zalot, Morgan. Philly.com 19 May 2014.