We started at the Riverview Building. It is next to the fish ladder, on the corner by the 6th street bridge. Within the Riverview Building alone there are 50 artists. Sandy’s WHAT art club had their contribution there, so that was where we started. Then we reviewed the rest of the art in the building; phenomenal paintings in multi-media, sculptures of light and form, one artist who did a complex tribute to 9/11. He told me he was on the street when it happened, and was trapped for two days. It still haunts him, and he tries to heal through art.
Then to another building, then to art in the streets and on the sidewalk, then to another building, then to art in parking lots and in tents and in parks. Huge sculptures that I hope the city bought to keep and lawn paintings, and art in the river; a large mobile on an island, and a sculpture by the fish ladder called “Nessie.” (The scuplutre was called Nessie, not the fish ladder.) You assume correctly; it is supposed to be a Loch Ness monstor representation.
Art that tried to make a statement, like the ton of compressed smelly plastic trash in cubes, creating a maze. The billowing globe with a recording playing about how global warming is a farce. (Of course I think that’s moronic. Yes, we landed on the moon, yes, there was a holocaust, and yes, there is global warming.) There was another artist who thought that the “Green Movement” was just propaganda by the capitalist to try to make more money, and a part of his display was surveying the passer bys. I told him I thought that capitalists have fallen short in any attempt to make money off the green movement, that it should be the next big thing, but we have not seen anything yet, and it was the lack of capitalist interest in anything green because oil is cheap and easy, that has caused this environmental problem.
Really. I said all that too him. I don’t think he liked it.
There was a performance artist who melted glass pop bottles and draped the melting glass in a net. There was a “Grand Rapids Family Tree” for you to write your name or sentiments on a ribbon, and tie it on the “tree.” Quite nice, actually; very colorful. There was a performance artist who’s performance was to paint oils painting of posing models while he and his brother sang and played musical instruments simultaneously.
There were sculptures everywhere. One of the most amazing pieces was the giant chairs and table by wicks (very similar to Sandy’s work.) The table and chairs is 4000 pounds, and rests on top of one of the pedestrian bridges across the Grand. It sets as a crown on top of the bridge.
The display that caused me the most pause, the one that I had a hard time pulling myself away from, was the juxtaposition of two paintings; one of Abraham Lincoln holding a wounded soldier on a Civil War battlefield, next to one of President Obama, our first black president. Either painting alone was beautiful piece of work. It was the juxtaposition that caused the pause.
The bottom line is, there was such a large volume of art and such a wide diversity of media that you literally cannot see it all in one day. If you live in the area, you need to come see it. It is mind-boggling.
Chair a Bridge
Fabric Mosaic
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