College of the Arts and Media faculty member Al Wildey’s piece “Power Lines” received a special recognition citation from Fountain Street Church during the 2018 ArtPrize exhibition in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Fountain Street Church has been an ArtPrize exhibition venue for 10 years. Each year, the church asks two independent jurors to evaluate the pieces on display, said Edgar Marty, the church's art committee chair.
"We are looking for artwork that asks people to do some thinking," Marty said.
Described by jurors as “a visually arresting piece that masterfully uses contemporary photographic technology to subtly blend its political message with the visual,” Wildey’s piece is one movement within a suite of images titled “Journeys.”
“The movement is focused on circular journeys while completing a 360-degree walk,” Wildey said. “Those photographs are merged into a single image to create a sense of movement through time and space.”
The merged photographs show electrical power lines and quotes — or “power lines” — from President Donald Trump. The finished image consists of 50 merged photographs and 45 quotes.
“Power Lines” is mounted on aluminum to allow the viewer to approach and move around the artwork, revealing and concealing different parts of the piece as the light reflects at different angles.
Wildey has 10 additional images on exhibit at the
CMU University Art Gallery as part of the 2018 Department of Art and Design faculty exhibition.
Al Wildey's work, "Power Lines" is on exhibit at ArtPrize 2018.