Fall in Grand Rapids is
ArtPrize season. The annual art competition is in its eighth year, and I've found time to see at least some of the pieces in all eight. I plan to spend a few hours roaming around the event this year, probably on a few different occasions. Expect a lot of pictures each time I go out. (Apologies for the quality...cheap camera phone.) Larger versions in my
ArtPrize 2016 photo album.
I generally like pattern-based pieces and this one is no exception.
Robots are always interesting subject matter, in this case out "watering" mechanical flowers with a gas can. That's the artist on the floor, putting on some finishing touches. Most pieces are finished before being installed, but you see work still being done on occassion.
I'm a sucker for space and stars, too. Hard to see in the picture, but this one has some figures hidden in the image...like the whale in the lower right.
Another pattern-based piece. You can kind of see land and sky, but mainly it's abstract.
I thought this was an interesting series of paintings, meant to signify struggle against life's circumstances.
This piece was done entirely by using different colors of duct tape to form the image.
A metallic eagle, posed as if in flight.
This entry had a whole table full of metal wire figures.
Large painting of lions on the savanna. Hard to see scale, but it took up an entire wall.
Each of the small Christmas-ornament-style balls in this entry was painted with the face of a Native American. You can only see one side here - there's an entire circle of displays.
Another wall-sized painting, this one of a forest on fire. Meant to draw attention to the dwindling rain forests, according to the author's note nearby.
This may look like a child's drawing, but it required some complex construction since it's entirely made of plastic lids.
"Grand Rabbits" - enough said.
Not sure entirely what this thing is, but it looked interesting out on the lawn beside the GR Public Museum.
About a dozen little metal cages with metal animal models made up this installation.
The other side of that same entry, showing different animals.
Another picture done in duct tape. Apparently duct tape art is a thing. Who knew?
As I first caught sight of this one from a distance, I thought "huh, wonder what that thing that looks like a tin-foil giraffe is." Thought maybe it would be part of another robot or something. Turns out, it actually was a tin-foil giraffe, along with various other animals.
You can't see this in the picture, but there are a bunch of small desks in front of the paintings in this installation. Kids were encouraged to sit down and write out a goal or dream, and put it up on the wall with many others.
Nice landscape that covered probably a good 15-20 feet along the wall.
Map of the United States made of colored glass, with lots of images representing the various states/regions.
This fish is a long, flat piece in the GR Ford Museum. Didn't look like much from ground level, but when you went up the stairs (where I took this picture) you could see the whole thing as intended.
A large, inflatable, rainbow-colored...something. Kind of looks like an elephant from a distance, but when you get closer it's clear that there's just a bunch of legs. Whatever it was, plenty of kids were very happy running around underneath it.
A very long model of a railroad bridge - it stretched down a hallway for about 30 feet. There's a train that's a bit hard to see behind the bridge supports.
This was an interesting series of paintings that each showed a circular grouping of different items - kitchen utensils, fruit, guns, medicines, toys.
A sculpture named Hand of God. There was a nice little booklet left by the author for people to write prayers in.
A complicated-looking device, complete with gears and circuits. I don't think it actually moved (and wasn't about to touch it to find out) but it looked like it might go into motion at any moment.
Nice painting of a hummingbird in mid-hover.
That's a whole lot of legos. And who doesn't love a little programming on their art?
Yep, those are painted toilets. The idea is to draw attention to colorectal cancer. Pretty sure that's working.
Metal stylized soldier surrounded by stones with names of various weapons, vehicles, etc used in Vietnam.
Dancing figure made of metal wires.
There was an entire series of these large wooden figures, representing some kind of fantastic story featuring the triumph of good over evil.
This large mural shows a battle scene from the history of Grenada.
An entire wall covered with a representation of a crowded poor neighborhood. In many of the windows were small screens, like you'd see on a cell phone, playing short videos of scenes you might expect to see in such an area.
