ArtPrize - Fall 2010 - the Big, the Bad, and the Beautiful

 

 

 

Thousands of words have been written about this event and I’m going add a few more with these observations.

If your entry is not in the central downtown district, you don’t have a chance of placing in the top 25.

If you create something huge, and you are in the central downtown district, you will likely be in the top 10.

Create a face or a landscape made out of tile, used wine corks, plastic balls, etc., and you will get people’s attention.

People who never otherwise come downtown Grand Rapids will wander around the city like lost souls, irritating everyone who regularly frequents the city.

Driving downtown is treacherous for reason stated above.

For ArtPrize purposes, people will go where they can see the most for their time. Hence, outlying areas displaying 1-10 pieces will not bring in people, and this should not surprise anyone.

Venues displaying only through an outside window are lame and should be discontinued.    

Venues closed during the day on weekdays are equally lame and should be shunned.

Meijer Garden was a well-run venue hosting numerous exhibits. It had a regular bus run but still didn’t have a chance of competing with downtown venues.

All that being said, I loved wandering around looking at the ArtPrize exhibits and hope that it will bring more people into Grand Rapids on a regular basis. I’d like it to be easier to view every exhibit without spending two weeks driving around to do so, however.

“Art” is lost among the venues and the large creations. Although I admire the craft, the  ingenuity, and workmanship of many things I saw, was it art? I am fond of Nessy and the Steam Pig, but are they art? They’re creative, outdoor sculptures meant to engage and entertain. I loved the sentiment and story behind the huge penny, but is it art? The mermaid out of toothpicks? That’s just tenacity and toothpick craftsmanship. An exhibit at a downtown church was mostly religion-infused opinions, and a few interesting works of art were lost among them. Another downtown church was open during the day only on weekends when crowds were the thickest so it was skipped.

The one entry that really had an impact on me was the photography of Ryan Spencer Reed in the DeVos Place. Entitled “Detroit Forsaken”, the photos looked like scenes from a third world bombed-out country, but it was inner city Detroit. If he had been displayed in the Art Museum, he might have had a chance.     

For all of its weaknesses, ArtPrize brings great benefits to the city, not the least of which are the many outdoor murals that remain part of the city scape. And perhaps everyone who comes downtown next year will know how to get to the Art Museum, except the person who deliberately walked on the salt and earth exhibit.