ArtPrize, for those of you who don’t know, is the singularly biggest cash prize open art competition anywhere in the world. You don’t need any special credentials to enter, just a recently completed piece of art, $60, and a way to get it to a hosting venue in Grand Rapids, MI.
This year, I am entering a piece called (for lack of a better name) “What is Transcendence?” It will be an installation comprised of two scenes: A modern carpet, chair, and table holding a tablet, juxtaposed against a classical decorative rug, faux leather chair, and marble table holding a leather bound book.
The juxtaposition will accomplish two things: First, it will make the differences between exquisite handcrafted beauty and reductive, simplistic mass-production obvious. Second, It will draw the viewer in with the former. A flat, commercial paperback book can be easily dismissed. A finely crafted leather bound book screams to be touched, held, and explored.
And I will extend that invitation to the viewer. This year, I would like to open my entry to the public. I would like them to touch and feel it, to hold it, to open the book and add their own entry. Whatever they would like to write, scribble, or draw is completely up to them. The chair is added to the table not just to set the stage, but to be sat in. To give the viewer permission to sit and write or draw. To create. To transcend.
This invitation will be made explicit in the Artist’s Statement, as well as with a QR code with a link to a simple video by me explaining my intention for the piece.
p.s. I haven’t decided if I want to make the tablet “functional” yet or not. The battery life surely won’t last for all of ArtPrize, and I don’t necessarily want to ruin the aesthetic of the table with a charging cable, or require my potential venue to provide power. Probably not. We’ll see.
Art Worth While 