ArtPrize is an art competition in Grand Rapids, MI, created by Rick DeVos. Prizes totalling $550,000 will be awarded at the 2012 event, making it the largest total prize purse for art in the world. ArtPrize 2012 is open from September 19 through October 7.

Quirks of ArtPrize

ArtPrize is extraordinarily well run, and it models lots of ways to engage regular and social media. It's also a great excuse to discover Grand Rapids.

If you get frustrated a little (and you might!), it helps to remember that you're there to look at an interesting social experiment as well as the art.

A few quirks about ArtPrize:

1) Anyone can enter. This is, overall, a great attribute. It increases the chances of your discovering an artist before the artist becomes known. But it also means that some of the art will not be of the quality you'd find in a juried show. Since the non-juried art is spread throughout a three-square-mile area that includes multi-storied buildings, one has to do a lot of looking and walking to discover the better pieces.

2) ArtPrize is held in Grand Rapids, MI. This means that it's easiest for Michigan artists to enter, just because of geography and the difficulty of transportation. As a result, ArtPrize will continue to be Michigan-centric (unless #1 changes), in spite of the high value of the prize.

3) Voting is skewed to sites with the most visitors. If only 1% of the visitors at a high attendance venue vote for a piece, the piece will get more votes than if 100% of the visitors had voted for it at at a low attendance venue. As word of this spreads, it may be harder for outlying venues to attract informed artists.

4) The sites with the most visitors are currated by art and museum professionals. This has the effect of weighting the chance of being in the top ten to artworks selected by museum currators. As a result, the top ten have a bias towards juried pieces, balancing the "anyone can enter" free for all of #1.

(This makes staff hired at these institutions far more influential in the national arts scene than they might otherwise be.)

5) First prize in 2010 and 2011 was a purchase award, not only of the winning entry itself but also of all copyrights to it. (Normally if an artist sells a painting, the artist retains the copyright and can sell prints of the work.) If ArtPrize continues operating as a purchase award, it's unlikely that artists with work valued at more than $200,000 will enter. To see pieces like that, you'll have to visit Art Basel, high end art galleries, or museum shows. ArtPrize will then have the curious distinction of being a place to see lots of not-yet-discovered artists but few recognized artists.

6) If ArtPrize continues, its value to artists will depend somewhat on whether a market for art develops around it. Can a good artist not in the top ten gain enough exposure to collectors in two weeks to justify the expense of entering?

If not, ArtPrize will skew towards becoming the equivalent of a Michigan Art Fair. The size of the prize will continue to attract first-time entrants from around the world, but the cost of shipping to the event will diminish repeat participation except for locals.

On the other hand, if a significant market develops for the art at ArtPrize, the quality of the art submitted will continue to increase and the presence of international artists will grow over time as word spreads.

One way to encourage this to happen would be to have an "After Party" of the best pieces from ArtPrize all displayed in one (very large) venue. Ideally, these would be up until the end of ArtPrize in the following year.

This would give collectors and media a place they could see the art without having to walk dozens of miles. The After Party could include, as a for instance, the top 100 vote getters and the winners of the currated prizes. Putting these pieces in the same space would encourage ongoing conversation and increased media and collector exposure. It would also dramatically increase the significance of ArtPrize in the international arts community. As word spreads, it would make Des Moines a year-round destination for arts.

ArtPrize notes

1) To get noticed at ArtPrize, entries have to be big, as in monumental. What looks big in an artist's studio won't look that big next to 18-foot tall paintings, drawings and sculptures.

In 2011, nine of the ten finalists were large scale. The one that wasn't was a life-size sculpture of President Gerald Ford, a home-town hero in Grand Rapids.

2) If you see lots of ArtPrize entries, you'll eventually see people making art out of almost anything.

You'll see quite a few pixillated works. For example:

Pete Fecteau's 2010 entry "Dream Big" made out of Rubik's Cubes

Pete had my all-time favorite quote of ArtPrize, in a report by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood.

Two weeks before the start of the 2010 ArtPrize, Pete was less than half done with his 22-foot mosaic of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jennifer saw him unloading 2,500 rented Rubik's Cubes that he still had to twist into the right designs to complete the mosaic.

Jennifer wrote:

Lots of people working on monumental projects can relate.

With these pixillated works, occasionally the medium and the message match, as in the case of a portrait made of bras.

Other pages on ArtPrize that you might be interested in:
Tips for Visiting ArtPrize 2012
Highlights of ArtPrize 2010
Highlights of ArtPrize 2011

Pages on other art events that you might be interested in:

Understanding Abstract Art
Art Basel in Switzerland
Art Basel Miami Beach

New York Art Galleries
Venice Biennale 2011
Random Topics

Mark Dahle Biography and FAQs

Auto body building, Minneapolis. (I ran out of Grand Rapids photos. I'll have to go back for more.) Photo copyright Mark Dahle 2010.

Building, Basel, Switzerland. © Mark Dahle 2011.

Crane, Basel, Switzerland. © Mark Dahle 2011.

Hazard light, Basel, Switzerland. © Mark Dahle 2011.

Steam plant, Grand Rapids, MI. Photograph © 2010 Mark Dahle

Downtown, Grand Rapids, MI. Photograph © 2010 Mark Dahle

Storage tank, Grand Rapids, MI. Photograph © 2010 Mark Dahle

Train trestle with trees, Basel, Switzerland. © Mark Dahle 2011.