MichiganRadio

Brooklyn Painter Wins ArtPrize GRAND RAPIDS, MI (Michigan Radio) - A painter from Brooklyn has won the $250,000 top award at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids.

More than 37,000 people voted in ArtPrize, casting a total of more than 370,000 votes. And in the end, the winner was a 19x6-foot oil painting of churning waves. The painting is titled "Open Water no. 24."

The artist who painted it, Ran Ortner had never been to Grand Rapids before ArtPrize. But he says the theme of water connects people.

"There's a certain lament in the way that waves break on a shore," he says. "And yet, behind that, the life of yet another and yet another. And in the poetry of this dance, there's a kind of profound sadness and utter exquisite celebration."

Ortner says he's not sure yet what will happen to the painting after ArtPrize.

As for ArtPrize itself, the event will be back next year.

Founder Rick DeVos says the response in the first year of the competition was overwhelming.

"It's just been really cool to see the whole community come around this," he says. "It was designed to include everyone, and everyone showed up, so it's cool."

All of the art from more than 1,262 artists in the competition will remain up through tomorrow.

To see all of the finalists, click here.

Contact Dustin Dwyer at dtdwyer@umich.edu.

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