Where I get all snarky on ArtPrize

ArtPrize describes itself thus:

“ArtPrize® is a radically open competition. Open to any artist in the world who can find space. Open to anybody in Grand Rapids, Michigan who wants to create a venue. Open to a vote from anyone who attends.”

Not a bad description. One might argue with “radical” since it is highly corporate but “radically open” is accurate enough. Not just “anybody in Grand Rapids, Michigan” can create a venue; only those who have a space within the well defined ArtPrize boundary.

Last year, when I help start the venue at The Hillmount, we had to borrow the address from our carriage house on College in order to officially be within the boundary. Very strict. This year the Meijer Gardens, 6 miles outside the boundary, was added as a venue. So when is a boundary not really a boundary? When the name “Meijer” is involved?

So now we are down to the Top Ten. For voting rules, please see here. Don’t be surprised if the ArtPrize site is down. It’s down quite a bit.

I saw one of the Top Ten last week and I took a look at the others today. In no particular order, here is a picture or two of each (plus a few more pieces). Each photo below is linked to a larger version, so click away. If you want to see the whole gallery, please click here.

The parking lot at the B.O.B. always has a lot to see. I don’t know why other than there is plenty of room and it is very much in the center of the City. This year, the B.O.B. has three the Top Ten pieces.

Robert Shangle: Under Construction

Ah, a guy painted and dressed and behaving like statue. A good money-maker for buskers worldwide. This is a bit different though since the artist is “performing” along with an actual statue of himself.

Here is the statue:

And here is the artist. Get it? No? I don’t either.

Paul Baliker: Ocean Exodus

I liked this one quite a bit. It is almost ruined by the fact that it is on a rotating platform like a 1956 Cadillac at the dealership.

Bill Secunda: Mantis Dreaming

Well, it’s really, really big. Looks more like “Mantis Eating”. Nice landscaping. Feint praise, I admit.

A brief interruption in the Top Ten list. We have this lovely old rail trestle downtown known, in good Midwestern fashion, as the “Blue Bridge”. It is potentially one of the best venues in the entire City. It could and should have hosted a dozen pieces, large and small. Sunshine, open sky, water below. This year, we have this:

Look at that space! It could be great. I don’t know who curated this venue but whoever you are, you failed. I can take the damned monkeys. They’re no more ridiculous than a good number of other pieces. But why oh why was the rest of the bridge abandoned?

I also wonder why we have no art in or interacting with the river. Here is the river from the Blue Bridge looking upstream through the heart of downtown.

Not a darn thing. Hmmm.

Back to the Top Ten…

Ritch Branstrom: Rusty

Once you get past the utter cuteness of the thing it’s really a pretty good piece. Really.

Mia Tavonatti: Crucifixion

Well, you can’t go wrong with Christ in West Michigan. This really is a stunning piece in a stunning location. If you feel like you have seen this piece 10,000 times that’s because you have. But this one is 13’ tall!

Sunti Pichetchaiyakul: President Gerald Ford Visits ArtPrize

Somebody is kidding here. Right? Right? Apparently not.

There is only one word for a Madame Tussauds-like statue of Gerald Ford inside a plastic box: creepy. Actually, two words: really creepy. I walked by a few hours later and they had Gerry out of the box. Even creepier. Thank god he’s not 13’ tall.

Laura Alexander: The Tempest II

Interesting piece. Since I don’t have anything snarky to say, I won’t say anything.

Lynda Cole: Rain

The only piece in the Top Ten that I would vote to win (and I did). I am a sucker for mobiles but this is a really great piece. Complexity from simple shapes. It really must be seen in person but I tried a few pictures.

Llew (Doc) Tilma: Grizzlies on the Ford

Certainly best use of space. Can you create “art” with a chain saw or is it by definition “craft”? I’m going to decline the whole art/not art debate. Charming.

The one piece I did not get a picture of is The Metaphorest Project: Metaphorest. It is a mural. Nice piece.

So after all this snark, what would I choose to win ArtPrize? Well, Diana and Hound, of course. Chuck Mack didn’t get much traffic over here on College and Cherry but we loved having her here. I got some pretty good night shots of her.

Other than Diana, I’m going with Mike Sohikian: The Veteran. A beautiful and disturbing piece.

I also really liked one of the smallest works I came across, Leslie Bolyard: Warden of Sorrow / Homage to Hieronymus Bosch.

We measure success by our definition of success. ArtPrize is successful in so many ways. Tens of thousands of people come downtown to look at and talk about thousands of works of art. Artists get seen, get noticed and a few of them win a bunch of money. We get to show off and appreciate a great American city. These are successes by I think anyone’s measure.

That said, most of the works are not worthy of much attention. Choosing the winners by popular vote is very populist and democratic but it leads to a lowest common denominator winner.

The biggest problem ArtPrize has is every single work in the Top Ten is within are very small area downtown. Hundreds and hundreds of works are never seen by enough people to garner a Top Ten award. If an artist is interested in winning a prize and can’t find a venue within this very small area, he might as well not bother. Unless ArtPrize can come up with a solution to this problem the event is never going to achieve what it could for the artists and for the folks that attend and vote.

All in all, I am going with success on most fronts. Problems remain to be solved. There’s always next year.

CB

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