蜜桃影像

Ever since 2009, when Rick DeVos, an entrepreneur, businessman, and philanthropist, conceived the idea, Grand Rapids has hosted ArtPrize, an art festival and non-profit competition that entirely takes over the city. From museums, churches, parks, restaurants, galleries, studios, buildings, and in some years, even the Grand River, art pieces are installed all over Grand Rapids. These pieces, created by both local and international artists, are available for free public viewing. This year’s ArtPrize, which started on Sept. 18 and runs until Oct. 4, has over 800 entries spread across the city. Andrews students, who are able to make it to Grand Rapids, have the opportunity to see a wide variety of art and performances in a unique way.

Not only can Andrews students and other ArtPrize attendees view the multitude of art pieces that have been installed, but they also have the opportunity to vote for their favorite pieces or performances. ArtPrize art pieces and the artists who create them are given a chance to take home prizes in several categories, with the most prestigious of the prizes being the public vote category prize. This prize is awarded to the artist whose art piece receives the most votes from a public jury. Attendees are able to vote on the ArtPrize until Oct. 2. The winners will be announced on Oct. 3. 

The artist who wins the public vote prize will be awarded $100,000, made possible by year-round fundraising, and ArtPrize sponsors and donors. The six runners-up of the public vote will also receive a prize, and each will be given $10,000. In addition to the public vote, there is the expert jury category, which is voted on by a panel of expert judges. Just as with the public vote category, there is a first-place prize and six runner-up prizes with the same prize money amounts as the public vote category. Alongside these prizes, there is also a juried visibility category, which awards $10,000 to five artists from underrepresented communities. 

This year, 蜜桃影像 has a close connection to Art Prize, as , a professor emeritus who, for 45 years, taught painting, drawing, and art history at Andrews, has entered a piece in the competition. Throughout his vibrant artistic career, Constantine has worked with numerous mediums and topics that demonstrated his evolving interests and personal life. Over the years, he has taken part in countless exhibitions and published several books. He also has multiple pieces of art displayed around campus, like “Picasso’s Greatest Hits,” which is hung in Buller Hall. Additionally, two of his license plate quote pieces are hung in the English department.

In the 1980s, Constantine began working on his “Slices of Art” series, which are constructed of two or more slices of well-known paintings, combined to make one piece of art. These pieces have taken various forms, one being his “Greatest Hits” series, which combines wedges of famous paintings, arranged and displayed in a cohesive rectangular format. These pieces highlight different collections of paintings, either uniting paintings that were done by one artist, like “Picasso’s Greatest Hits,” or pieces that are displayed in a specific city, like “Chicago’s Greatest Hits,” which is made up of wedges of paintings displayed at the Chicago Institute of Art.

It is one of these pieces, “Holland’s Greatest Hits,” which Constantine has entered in this year’s ArtPrize. When I had the opportunity of speaking to Dr. Constantine about “Holland’s Greatest Hits,” he stated that the piece was made up of the work of “seven different Dutch artists, historical artists, that [he] chose slices out of and joined together.” The piece includes paintings that Constantine considers the “most significant paintings,” of those seven artists, like Jan Van Eyck’s “The Arnolfini Portrait” and Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” Constantine also joked that these pieces could be considered his “chainsaw thefts,” pieces that were created “as if [he] went into a museum and cut out the part that [he] wanted.” This was first created in 1997, but updated for entrance in this year’s ArtPrize. 

This piece, much like Constantine’s other “Slices of Art” paintings, was inspired by Constantine’s interest in “elaborate museum picture frames.” Constantine described these pieces as “museum frames with images attached,” as opposed to framed images, and stated that since he “really didn’t feel like [he] could just exhibit frames, [he] had to attach images to them.” While Constantine’s “Slices of Art” series no doubt draws from his past in art history and focuses on famous artists and their work, the frames themselves are centered in his exhibition. 

“Holland’s Greatest Hits,” before being entered into ArtPrize, was temporarily displayed in the American Embassy in the Netherlands. Constantine took part in a program with the U.S. State Department called Art in Embassies. “They provide ambassadors with American art that they choose.” Constantine shared, “Whatever they choose, they’ll ship it there, and hang it and all that stuff, and bring it back. And that’s what happened with this piece.”

As stated earlier, this is not Constantine’s first time taking part in ArtPrize. He first entered his art into the competition in 2011, after he was invited to enter one of his pieces. Constantine shared that he was unsure at first but was convinced to join after he “realized the amount of money they were giving away” a sum which he facetiously said would “encourage any artist.” After visiting the first ArtPrize and experiencing the festival for himself, he decided to enter the next year. Although Constantine never won any of the prize money for his entries, he stated that he enjoyed taking part in the competition regardless, because he was able to interact and speak with ArtPrize visitors who came to view his work. He recalled that one year, when he entered one of his license plate pieces, a “tongue in cheek ransom note” that jokingly demanded the first-place prize money from Rick DeVos, that he had the opportunity to engage with lots of viewers who enjoyed his art. This year’s entry, which is vote ,can be seen displayed in the DeVos Place Convention Center and is available for purchase through the ArtPrize website. 

Each year, ArtPrize is a special experience that is integral to the artistic and cultural life of Grand Rapids and the wider West Michigan area and its communities. What is so special about ArtPrize is the large scale of the festival. While other festivals may be limited to one venue or gallery, during ArtPrize, art can be viewed in virtually any place in Grand Rapids. For a little over two weeks, the city is steeped in art and artistic performance, making art an accessible and fundamental part of life in Grand Rapids. If readers of the Student Movement are able to attend the festival, they are recommended and encouraged to attend and vote for their favorite art pieces.