Art Prize Grand Rapids

Sunday evening we took our teen children and their friends to downtown Grand Rapids which, over the course of a few weeks, has been transformed by ArtPrize, a city-wide art contest conceived of and funded by a wealthy member of one of Grand Rapids' philanthropic families.
We started our trek near the 'Blue Bridge' over the Grand River, where the teens were delighted by  a top ten vote getter, "Nessie," a collaborative work in the 30's Art Moderne style, by a group of former classmates from Kendall College of Art and Design.

Teens lagging a block behind the grown ups, we wandered the central city blocks, like Sacajawea and her Crew, in search of art and artifacts. This event capitalized on the popularity of American Idol audience participation. Anyone over 18 was able to register to vote to select, in two rounds of voting, the ultimate winner of a quarter million dollar purse. There were no predetermined art categories or even much of a definition of what would qualify as ART. It was up to the public to decide. Art curators, historians, educators and critics would not be determining the value of what was on display here. One personal favorite? The maze of baled plastic recycleables set in a parking lot between glass fronted office buildings.

Following the first round of voting, each piece was labeled with thumbs up and down indicating the numbers of favorable and not so favorable votes. Surprisingly, on many pieces the vote count was in the tens of thousands. I found it difficult to believe such a large number of people had strolled past these sites in recent days. Downtown Grand Rapids is not Times Square, even on a Saturday Night.

Like bargain hunters at a flea market we left no alley unturned in our quest for art, despite a steadily increasing drizzle. Toward the end of the journey, rainy skies darkening the streets, we were cold, hungry and in need of the 'facilities.' We dove into the nearest open building, and found these 8 foot pencil drawings with acrylic painted backgrounds. What an impact. They weren't in the top ten, but they get my vote; looking at these hyper-real pieces it's impossible not to think about the real men and women who are serving as soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan. The teens? After coming full circle, back at the Blue Bridge, they went for "Nessie." The contest winner will be announced later today.