ArtPrize By Tracy K. Lorenz October 7, 2014 Well, it looks like ArtPrize is going to take a hit this year. In every year since its inception the sun has shown on the Devos’s as if their lives weren’t fabulous enough. Who else could schedule a two week event, in Michigan, in October, and have perfect weather? Not me. And as far as I’m concerned if the weather isn’t nice there’s no sense in going because, well, 97% of the art is crapadoodle. Not only is 97% crapadoodle, the other three percent is going to be the same as last year’s three percent. Here’s a prediction: The winning piece will be HUGE, far too big to fit in any normal house or museum. That seems to be the recipe for success at Art Prize: enormity, the Mona Lisa wouldn’t stand a chance but the Grand Haven Musical Fountain would be top ten. The real problem I have with ArtPrize is most of the art is what I like to call “Yoko Ono Art,” it isn’t “art” per-se, it’s just some lame idea being pawned off as art. “What’s that?” “It’s seven lights representing the seven chakras in Gandhi’s right hand.” “It kinda looks like a bunch of flashlights duct taped together and shining on a wall.” “YOU LACK VISION!” “Okay then, what’s that?” “That is a collection of jackets thrown in a pile, they represent the tortured masses of Liberia.” “It looks like my kids room.” “DIE DIE DIE you racist heretic!” “That seems a bit harsh…” Which brings up my second overriding thought when I walk the street of Grand Rapids looking at gigantic dragons made from scrap metal: what do they do with this stuff when Art Prize is over? Do they try to sell it? Do they lug it back to wherever it came from and reassemble it in their yard? Or do they just rent a dumpster and call it good? Is there a secondary market for fifty-foot tall chairs and cars with the windows painted like a road? And so much of art is in selling the piece as art, I went to the ArtPrize website and chose a piece completely at random based only on the title, the title was “Urban Tumbleweed,” here’s the description from the artist: “I am a composer, and sculptor—a musician of sound and visual space. My work is influenced by my background in percussion and traditional music studies. My interests lie in a search for how elements of music exist in the physical world, both visually and aurally, and how they can be used as compositional potentiality. I investigate these relationships and connections to reveal and expand how our perceptions of sight and sound might shape and influence the variety of things we consider “musical”. In Urban Tumbleweed, I use landscape and terrain as a musical score by mapping topography. Rhythm Rover, pictured above, contains a digital audio recorder and is designed to capture the rhythms created as it traverses various terrain. The syncopation of the rhythm is shaped by the physical characteristics of the terrain and the tempo determined by the pitch. Urban Tumbleweed was created in Omaha, NE during my residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in 2013.” Uh huh. I’m sure the artist is a nice guy and all but once you start tossing around words like “compositional potentiality” the battle may be lost. You should never have to explain art. If I don’t like it (or can’t even figure out what it is) just by looking at it then the cause is lost. Did Da Vinci have to explain his ceiling? Nope. All that being said I still think ArtPrize is a spectacular event, most of the time it’s the city of Grand Rapids that’s the star but either way it’s unique and is a great way to spend a day, just not when it’s raining. I wish the organizers continued success, I respect the artists even if most of the art is kinda sketchy, (here’s a test: look at the piece, imagine it was for sale at a flea market for $5; would you buy it?) and I can’t wait to go next year weather permitting. If nothing else ArtPrize gives you a chance to spend a day not looking at your phone, a day to discuss art and wonder aloud how anyone could possibly like one particular piece and not another. Kinda like back in the day when people would argue over who was better, the Rolling Stones or the…Beatles.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 00:46:20 +0000
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