A Storm Has Come

So I'm a little late to reacting to this whole Art Prize thing, but being an artists myself with views on popular art in our modern age I thought I head on down and give it a look.  See what the popular pieces are and compare them to what I like.  I'll be back on Saturday with more for this post.

Well, that's a few days late, oh well.  I wasn't able to see as much of this years entries on the more fringe display areas of the city, but I was able to see a good amount within the "main" venues, the art within The Bob courtyard and the UICA.

As expected the art housed in The Bob courtyard was spectacle, large works of metal, craft, paint, and surprisingly illustration that went more for first glance impression than thought provoking meaning.  There was a large piece using a series of portraits that were hung at various heights and distances that all combined to make a larger work of art that was interesting.  As well as a medium size wood sculpture that at first glance seemed like a technically well thought out work, but then you got close and noticed the incredibly detailed carving work in the piece, making in actuality this  massive composition.  Also there was this giant and I mean GIANT 25 cent prize machine, which I loved just because I love that sort of stuff, also made a composition myself that was much smaller with the same statement involved.  It was fun to see what could have been had I the financial backing at the time.

The UICA had a good deal of smaller pieces, really they were more medium in scale, human sized and a little larger, that had deeper thought placed into them.  I liked this venue more, a better place to enjoy the pieces and not be too crowded by the citizen art viewer.  There was a collection of wood cut pieces and found object art that were all collected into this large hallway forming city of sorts.  This pieces intrigued me and if I had the money I would have bought one right there on the spot.  I enjoyed the work that much.

I wasn't able to see Elephant Drawings, the winner of this year, but I did see some other "Top 10" entries and I am glad that it won the popular vote.  Yes it is itself a spectacle piece, an 8 by 35 foot carbon pencil on paper drawing depicting a herd of elephants, a family of chimps/monkeys/gorillas, and other assorted creatures, but the piece was a year and a half of this artists life, and depicts such within the composition.  Several fantasy elements have been involved with the work and much of the imaginative additions having much deeper meaning.  I do enjoy when so called "drawings" win larger art competitions like this because the general populous views drawing and illustration as doodles and pre-work for "higher classed" forms of art.  With such victories the general reaction shifts more and more.  Below is an image of the winning piece.

"Elephants" by artist Adonna Khare