“Peralux” by Gabriel Hall & Daniel Land; illuminated, time-based installation at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA), and one of the finalists in the time-based category.

2014 ArtPrize is alive and thriving around Grand Rapids, with the 1,500+ entries from local and international artists narrowed down to a Top 20, by means of public voting and juried selection. The offerings were as predictably diverse as you might expect from this recurring festival, which packs the downtown area with installations, presentations and exhibits in the four categories: two-dimensional, three-dimensional, time-based and installation.

“Red Cord Community” on Division Ave. offers passers-by the option of creating a prayer in defense and healing of women who have survived prostitution, trafficking, addiction and abuse.

This year’s 20 finalists were announced on Sunday, October 5th, and include two Detroit-based artists–not a bad showing, considering the sheer, bewildering mass of entries. Today at 12 p.m., there will be a presentation in Rosa Parks Circle discussing these choices. The overall effect of ArtPrize is much like a state fair, where the stock in trade is art, rather than livestock. Everywhere you turn, people have their prize works on display, many requiring massive investments of time and energy. It is spectacle in the truest sense, and certainly a must-do for anyone with an appetite for gallery crawls.

“Quilt Mountain,” the showpiece in a beautiful series of quilted works at Have Company on Division Avenue.

ArtPrize will run through the coming weekend, ending on Sunday, October 12th, so you still have time for the trip to Grand Rapids to check out the lay of the land. For those who can’t make it, just a few pictures of things that caught my eye. Enjoy!

“Vestige” by Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk. Materials: grape vine and hog intestine. On display at (106) Gallery, South Division Ave.

A massive pseudo-organic installation also on display at (106) Gallery.

Detail from “Based on Things That Happened,” by Shannon Mossing.

“BREATHE (2),” a living artwork by Dave Mackenzie, and also one of the finalists.

There was a lot of really interesting and provocative work on display at the Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD), which dealt generally with issues of capitalism, money and cultural heritage.

Pieces from “The Haircraft Project” by Sonya Clark at KCAD.

“Tengo Hambre” (“I’m Hungry”), an incredibly moving minimalist piece by Maximo Gonzalez, with hundreds of grains of rice inscribed with the title of the piece, at KCAD.

A piece from “Live Free or Die,” giant images of folded dollar bills, by Dan Tague, at KCAD.

“Does it work for you?” It’s working for ArtPrize! Interactive piece by Steve Lambert, at KCAD.

Another hotspot of affecting work, and home base to a couple of the ArtPrize finalists, is the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM), offering mix of highly personal works and charged social commentary.

“Intersections,” by Anila Quayyum Agha, also a finalists, at the GRAM.

UICA also represented strongly, with massive and impactful installation pieces on every floor.

A detail from a large installation by Detroit’s own Michael McGillis, at UICA.

Detail from “The Great Wall of Bees,” by Ladislav R. Hanka, at UICA.

An installation on the roof of UICA.

One of two installations that utilized desktop lamps that changed the financial fortunes of one of the works’ collaborators.

What a great weekend! Get out to Grand Rapids before 2014 ArtPrize passes you by.