ArtPrize: Popularity Contest or Marketing Bazaar? (Opinion)

by Chris Apap (apap_creations) on Monday Sep 28th, 2009 in OPINION

 Once ArtPrize was announced, I was very excited about it. But upon further research, I started becoming cynical. Questions came to mind, like: why a public vote as opposed to a panel of jurors? Why are the boundaries so restrictive and non inclusive of the Uptown area?



Another qualm I had with this process is that I knew individual "artists" would take advantage of the voting process by marketing themselves to ridiculous lengths in order to get a vote. This brings me to my main reason for this article: Artists who are taking advantage of the press, their popularity and even nepotism to gain an advantage on the votes. Namely, Jacqueline Gilmore and the Rob Bliss Experiment.



Let's start out with the Bliss project, "100,000 paper airplanes and Melodies over Monroe." It was a great idea and got thousands of individuals into downtown on Sunday; a day that would normally make this town seem abandoned due to all the closed shops and general lack of pedestrian activity. To me, the project was a failure. The idea was the masses would hum Sigur Ros' famous song, "Olsen Olsen," while multicolored paper airplanes were thrown from the roofs of surrounding buildings. In reality, barely anyone knew the song and gigantic clumps of folded paper were dumped onto the crowd below. Few planes actually glided. It was a fantastic idea on paper, but in practice, it looked like people shoveling a bunch of garbage off the rooftops. I know I do not stand alone in saying this; I heard similar remarks echoing through the crowd during and after the event.



The main reason this event got so much attention is that Rob Bliss has made a name for himself by hosting a series of events he calls the "Rob Bliss Experiments." I love that this young adult can pull so many people into the city and generate, for even a few moments, a sense that Grand Rapids is a big city. But press and popularity among one's peers should not warrant thousands of votes based on that alone.



As for nepotism, Jacqueline Gilmore is directly involved with The Gilmore Collection (note the similarity in the name), a family of restaurants in Grand Rapids. One of their better known buildings is the Big Old Building (B.O.B), a building that houses four floors of restaurants and bars. Mrs. Gilmore's venue for ArtPrize just so happens to be the B.O.B., and all the employees are required to wear t-shirts that don her "vote up" number for the duration of ArtPrize. How is this fair play to the other hundred or so artists who are showcasing their work at this venue? I very highly doubt that the Gilmores would allow artists Kelly Allen or Mark Rumsey to hang a gigantic banner with their name on it and wave it around the venue. I have also heard that some of the restaurants and bars located inside the B.O.B. have not observed proper public viewing hours set by the ArtPrize committee. Is this another ploy by the Gilmores to boost votes for Jacqueline?

These are important questions. The following statements were found on the ArtPrize blog:

Deb says: September 27, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I am taking this opportunity to express something that is happening at ArtPrize that I find to be nothing less than appalling. The BOB is a venue for over a hundred artists, all of whom want to have their work given the same attention as everyone else (just to be clear, I am not exhibiting at the BOB). But one “artist” in particular, Jacqueline Gilmore, is using her position as the wife of the owner of the BOB to destroy any semblance of an even playing field. All employees of the BOB are required (that is, forced) to wear t-shirts that feature her face on the front along with “vote for Jacqueline Gilmore” and her voting numbers. This is a blatant abuse of her position as wife of the venue owner, and a slap in the face to all the artists who are exhibiting there. None of this would mean much if not for the fact that she is currently in the top 25 artists and her work is completely unextraordinary. Quite simply, it is bad painting. She has no business being in the top 25 artists. She is one of the participants in ArtPrize who give the entire event a bad name. As a serious artist who hopes to have my work judged on its merits, I am embarrassed for her and by her.

Jason says: September 27, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Deb, I happen to be on a gilmore collection email list. They always email me about pretty good deals on food, but last week they sent this: YOU DON’T KNOW JAC… ART-ecture
by Jacqueline Gilmore Live Unveiling & 3D Lightshow
Sept 23 – 9pm @ The B.O.B. Artprize at The B.O.B. Sept 23- Oct 10 Make your vote count for GR! VOTE # 24751" It would appear that I am not the only one who is noticing that ArtPrize has become a popularity contest, or even a competition on how well one can market themselves. It is my earnest hope that the general public can look past all this marketing and vote on entries based on whether they are actually good or not. Maybe in the coming years (if this event continues), new rules will be put into place that will allow the art to speak for itself, instead of the artist selling their work like some infomercial.

Disclosure: I am an artist living in Grand Rapids, but I chose not to participate in ArtPrize (for some of the reasons stated). I also work as an art director for a local advertising agency, so I understand how much of an impact even the smallest ad campaign can have for a company/individual.

About: Chris Apap (apap_creations)

I make observations, and enjoy talking about them.