ArtPrize's safe, non-provocative winner

Mia Tavonatti's Crucifixion,
a work of stained glass mosaic, is the winner of this year's ArtPrize in Grand
Rapids, Michigan. Decided by popular vote, the award comes with the largest
single cash award for a work of art--$250,000.

This is ArtPrize's third year, and there were more than
1,500 entries in 164 venues. The basics are this: for a fee of $50, anyone can
enter the competition. You just need to find a venue in the city that will host
your work. Viewers vote, and then vote again for one of the top ten vote getters.

This year, however, the award has caused an uproar. On the
one hand, critics complained about the aesthetics of the winning piece. One
called Crucifixion "Tim McGraw wearing a wig on a cross." Some
suggested that ArtPrize change its name to "ArtandCraftPrize," because the only
thing that sets this mosaic work apart is the amount of patience required to
make it. The other objection was that the work could only win in Grand Rapids,
a city in competition for the Christian capital of the United States--that the
award had far more to do with the city's self-concept than with the art itself.