ArtPrize 2010 is upon us and promises to be bigger and better than last year. I would like to ask everyone that reads this blog to please vote for John O’Hearn’s, ‘The Grand Pixel‘, located at the Gerald R. Ford Museum. John contacted me almost a year ago asking if I would be willing to let him use one of my photos as the basis for his large scale mosaic. As I learned more about his project I was more than happy to provide the photo and have been eagerly awaiting the start of ArtPrize so I can finally see his mosaic in person.

In John’s own words (emphasis mine):

“My work entitled, “The Grand Pixel” is a large 8ft tall by 16ft wide mosaic of downtown Grand Rapids highlighting the river and cityscape. It is made out of 250,512 tiny 6mm plastic colored balls and uses only 6 colors. From afar the Grand Rapids scene appears photographic but as one approaches the individual balls of color emerge as in the pointillist tradition. I started creating these mosaics as an undergrad student at Kendall College of Art and Design where I graduated in 2006. This mosaic needs to be displayed in a large open space where audiences are able to view from a distance as well as get up close enough to touch. Viewers are amazed by the detail achieved from such a limited palette and the sheer number of plastic colored balls used. This mosaic will be 4 – 8ft tall by 4ft wide panels that go together seamlessly against the wall. It is impressive by the way it overwhelms with it’s size yet still feels intimate as people want to get close to figure out how it works.”

The first photo below is one John sent me to show his work installed at the museum and the second is the actual photo used to create the layout for the mosaic. Thanks and if you see John at the exhibit, say hi and that Darrin sent you! : )