So there was an art contest here in Detroit, for our beloved Red Wings. The theme was "Power Play". Big cash prize, winning art to be put in a corporate suite at the stadium, and so on, and so on...I'm not a big sports fan, but I know art and I need money! I've won big contests before thinking way outside the box and not doing what is obvious or expected. But this time it just didn't pan out, my art piece didn't even place. The winning art, it was good, but it was also what you would expect. But it's ok, actually doing this exercise grounded me, and taught me many lessons that I needed to be re-taught. 1. Think through your production process. I decided and visualized this in my head as very clean and graphic. So I used spray paint to create this, which needs masks. I was rushing and on a tight budget so I just told myself I would use paper prints and wing the offsets and overlaps of each color. I also haven't done this type of masking and painting in years, so I was rusty, the paper was too thin and buckled up when loaded with heavy paint, and I was way off on aligning colors to butt up cleanly. A lot of mistakes. 2. Know your audience. The judges were corporate executives and sports fans, they are not gonna overthink art or creative abstraction (think players on ice, local Detroit landmark icons). 3. Politics. Don't put a determined cartoon face on our logo, what is creative license? 4. Maybe they just didn't like it? Either way, I learned some lessons and will be a wiser artist the next time I enter a contest.
First pic is the digital concept. The second pic is the finished painted piece (24" x 30" spray paint and acrylic on wood panel). Third pic is some production shots.
