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Monday, October 1, 2012

Art Prize 2012- Two Favorites

 
Over the next few days I'll share some of my favorite art works from Art Prize. Today, I have a somewhat realistic construction from recycled materials, and a more abstract piece.

Here's a closeup of a section of the construction. One thing which made it different from a lot of the other constructions is that it was painted.

sculpture made from recycled junk

That closeup was a section of this:

polar bear sculpture made from recycled junk

There were several animals as part of the piece. Most of the pictures aren't very good due to shadows which complicated the already busy images.

mountain lion sculpture made from recycled junk

The name of the work is "On Thin Ice," by Justin LaDoux of Alma, Michigan. I really liked how he gave the impression of the broken ice, although representing ice with a mirror isn't very original, it worked really well here.

sculpture made from recycled junk

Of course, the environmental message is very obvious. I prefer art to be less blatant with messages (usually, I think...), but I thought the constructions were extremely well done, and appealing.

By contrast, this more abstract piece caught my eye. It's called "Two Moons," by Steven Durow of New Orleans.

Two Moons sculpture

In some ways, I was surprised at how much I liked this, because geometrically, I almost always prefer squares and rectangles over circles. And this is nothing but circles!

Two Moons sculpture

One of the things I liked best was that it seemed like a reflection of a moon, perhaps in the ocean. Looking through the thick green glass reminded me very much of gazing down through the ocean.

Two Moons sculpture

It's made of cast glass, steel, and cast stone.

I'm sure that your choices might not be the same as mine, but with over 1500 exhibits, there certainly is something for everyone.

See Art Prize- First Impressions
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5 comments:

vanilla said...

Art, to cobble together an expression, is in the eye of the beholder. I am happy for you that you enjoyed the exhibit, and for the images you shared here.

Ann said...

both very interesting and unique. I really like that first one

Lin said...

I imagine it was incredible in person. It sure is intriguing!

betchai said...

i love both, so unique and interesting, however, i am drawn more to two moons too :)

Sharkbytes said...

vanilla- I'm thinking you and Chuck may feel similarly about "art." tee hee

Ann- I think it might have done better if it had been situated where it got full sun. The shadows really hampered appreciation.

Lin- It's overwhelming. We saw maybe a 15th. The guidebook suggests that you need 5 days if you want to see it all.

reena- you would have loved the whole thing!

betchai- There were so many different kinds of displays you could just enjoy anything you wanted!