open water no. 24

“That is a large picture”

That seemed to be the thought most everyone had as they approached or walked by “Open Water No. 24″ by Ran Ortner. Then everyone has this moment when they realize, this is not a picture, but an amazing painting.

The size, the scale, the beauty, it truly is a contest winning piece of art that is perfectly fitted for Grand Rapids. What a great idea to paint a close-up, cropped image of water and enter the piece into a contest being held in a town with a river splitting it and the state the contest is being held in touches 4 of the 5 great lakes. Just perfect!

Great painters are alive and exist, thank you Ran Ortner for reminding us!

You can read more about Ran Ortner at the ArtPrize website, by click here

artprize

So in case you have been living under a rock with no access to twitter or facebook or, if you must use it, local news, there has been quite the event going.

ArtPrize is officially here, and it’s never been cooler to be an artist in Grand Rapids! All around downtown there is art coming out of our towns nose. It is quite a spectacle and amazing to see the different things people call art.

Hopefully this event will become a staple to west michigan and will garner the interest of the art community internationally! If so, then no doubt Michigan Awesome is correct in saying that we are truly the epicenter of progressive culture!