The Dark side – Art and Auto Decline

Each night as evening fell I would turn on my lights and prepare for the evening crowd. Flicker has sported some beautiful picts of the flying bugs at dusk and the car splashed in lamplight and back lit with the fantastic projection show going on behind me on the four story building. The white forms loom beautifully from the darkness. One evening I was explaining the Car Chase and the phrase “BugSwarm from off shore” perked the interest of a former Buick builder from Lansing. “You must hate foreign cars as much as I do” he spouted. “Hate for competition doesn’t help you. If they are better, you need to step up.” I responded. “We built great cars at Buick” he blustered. Not noticing his rage building, I blundered into his sore spot. “They’re out dated styling only appeals to old people.”I noted. He took off on a rant about how great General Motors was and how people don’t get it. My tongue was sharpened now and the thrust lunge at the heart was too easy. “Yea, but your bankrupt.” I might as well have called his mother a whore. “F--- You” He threw down his hands and walked a fast circle, and paused eight feet away, lurching back in my direction, “JUST * # F– YOU” and stormed off.

I spent the rest of the evening in remorse for having goaded him and wondering if he would be back with a hammer. I forget that some folks cannot be philosophical about what is happening in Michigan and are very tender about their beloved industrial institutions; the big three. I thought to myself :“This is why many here refer to east Michigan as the Dark side” It Rained about midnight and we shut down.

Running the Good Race

Art-Competition: It is almost an oxymoron. Who does an artist compete against besides himself? Maybe those that are technique driven or a few anal detail chasers view others as competitors, but the endeavor of making art is inherently not about one person pitted against another. Yet, striving for a prize is the driver, and the public vote determines the winners in the ArtPrize.

An interesting dilemma comes. I have been told by some pretty fine artists that I should not speak so much about my work. It should be interpreted by each viewer and the mysteries within it should remain to be discovered. But what about those who haven't a handle on art in general and are desperately seeking clues so they can apply their minds to what is in front of them?
For these masses of folks I talked incessantly until I had it honed to a 15 second elevator speech. The relief and delight espoused continuously from the viewers encouraged me to do more for them.
And I think a decent composition prompted them to ask and the cliff notes helped them vote. I stayed in the top 25 from the beginning of the tally. It is an honor to talk art with the public and, even more so, to be acknowledged by them for a creation.
The Artprize folks will not reveal how close I came to the top 10. Was I #11 by 2 votes? Or #25 removed by hundreds from #24? I guess I’ll never know. But like the apostle Paul I hope I ran the race with integrity, pressing toward the mark with all diligence.
Like Love- better to have tried and lost than never to have tried at all. But also like love- Why not me? Am I bad? Not desirable? Silly? Nah, just an artist pitted against himself. I’ll get em next time.

Car Chase ends in....

Well, It was really unbelievable that I was in the running for thousands in prize money. We went to Cathedral square for the announcement of the top ten. A channel 8 news guy did a short interview with me , we were early to check out the site and they were just setting up. The big money guy stepped to the pedestal and was very brief. No hoopla just the list of ten. “And now, in alphabetical order,--Bang it was over right then for me, before he said a word. The first name posted started with D. My balloon air squealed away ending in the traditional flutter and the rest of the program was irrelevant. We stood up as soon as the names were done and walked off.
Now comes the long week with no prospects other than having to dismantle this monstrous work.

Many condolences came in and “Top 25 from 1262 is still pretty good.” but the fun is gone now. I have to started figuring my way out of the economic hole I’ve dug. And how to capitalize on what I have done. Most of the ten I agree with so at least the public is not so bad at judging art in Grand Rapids.
Great fun while it lasted.
Tj

Video interview

Interview on WZZM13 done on Tuesday, airing tonight, since Tj remained in the top 25 all through the first week of voting on ArtPrize! Announcement of Top 10 is tonight at 6pm!!!
If you missed them, he also did an interview at the beginning of ArtPrize with the Grand Rapids press, seen on mlive.com, and had a spot in the Holland Sentinel when ArtPrize opened.
Great press for great work!

Final Round

Yesterday was a beautiful cool sunny fall day and the traffic at the BOB was steady. Fans came dragging their friends to see my piece. Many were trying to see the whole show before issuing their votes. We had 1000 cards printed initially and then put the number on the back with a sticker, they were gone in the first 2 days. I estimate we had printed another 2000 little slips with the shot of the piece and the number to make it easy for them to vote. People shot pics like paparatzi. Friends in clumps, families, kids with the artist, you name it. This piece is now all over facebook. "Hey, worth a pic it's worth a vote!" I'd quip handing them a slip. On the third day I called home and said "Print more and get them down here, I'll be out by 3". Some were chopped funny and I stuffed these in a different pocket, trying to only issue the best ones. My printer is now blinking error notes and needs a hundred bucks worth of cyan powder. By last night at 9:30 I had handed out every slip of paper I had,(even the funny ones) and was down to left over stickers with only the number on it. They went on peoples jackets, coffee cups, and other artists cards. About 50 voters took them.

My videographer came by and we got some fantastic night time footage. I rolled home at 1AM thrilled with the news that I was in the top 25.


Today it is a press barrage. We set up interviews with radio and news papers and a photo session with the piece. As it happens a news team had come by documenting childrens' reactions to the show while I was fixing the bugs. They did an up close personal interview and it was apparently used on TV. Link

The announcement is tonight in GR and we are all going. What big fun to compete and try to show the public my work.
Thanks for dropping by! Vote Car Chase. "Oh Yea, sure, it's made of foam with my own formula of polymer modified concrete .... bla bla Bla...."
Tj

ArtPrize Respite

It is Raining in Grand Rapids, thank God. I have a day to chill a bit after the 24/7 build, install and tending of the Car Chase for ArtPrize. What a marathon. I’m used to all nighters to hit a deadline making a piece, I had planed for a brutal installation schedule, but it had not occurred to me how much tending the public venue would require. The BOB parking lot is the hottest spot in town. That’s great for the voting. I’m running in the top 25 and people really seem to enjoy the piece. But there is an acrobatic performance next to me and 2500 people pack in and want to use my piece as a set of bleachers. I get up on a lamp pole base4 times a day to monitor and spook nearby people yelling: “PLEASE do not climb on the sculpture.” The parking lot has food and drink booths including beer, so the crowd lasts well after midnight. They kick over my lamps, and set their kids on it for a picture. But I hand out number cards and tell the story over and over, and they vote for me. 5 strait days of this routine is now behind me with just a few days before round one is over.

Had a couple of bugs come down in the wind storm last night but it still looks pretty good. Oh to win a prize and recoup some expenses!

Friends in from out of town so we will enjoy a lunch at the BOB. The owner stops by, he is doing well and I am a major attraction. He quips: “Hey tj, mind if I stand on your sculpture?” Thanks Greg. More next time from ArtPrize in GR.
TJ.

Installed !

I’m sitting on a folding chair in the parking lot next to the Car Chase installation. I’ve been remiss in my writing because I’ve had a solid two weeks of non stop finishing, packing, hauling, unloading, installing and general figuring out how to do this. The results are gratifying though. Lots of thumbs up comments on the work. Old guys remember their dad having a Hudson, kids love the cartoonish car, curious ladies see the figures in the waves and exclaim. And everyone has a question. What year is that? How long did it take? What is it made of? How did you come up with this idea.

I re itterate my thesis on the impact of the auto on our society over and over as they ask. It is a lot of fun to work the crowd.

Will it be worth the effort? Some how it already is. This event has forced me to finish a major composition.

Come on down and Vote 24611!

See you at the BOB,

Tj

www.Sculpturebytj.com