Painting of Harvey Weinstein has a moment at ArtPrize 2018

There are 20 finalists competing for a public vote's big prize of $ 200,000, along with four $ 12,500 prizes for finalists in four separate categories. In addition, juried awards are given in the same five categories for the same dollar amounts.

Harvey Weinstein is about to be pepper sprayed by a ballerina in this large acrylic on canvas painting by Florida artist Kevin Grass. The work demonstates the power of the #MeToo movement. (Photo: Kevin Grass)

But the entry that will be my takeaway from this year did not make it to the finals.

"Is that him?" she asked.

Yes, it was him. It's not every day that you encounter a 7-by-14-foot painting by Harvey Weinstein, the film is about to be synonymous with sexual misconduct by powerful men.

Exactly one year has passed since Oct. 5, 2017, New York Times article that exposed allegations against Weinstein and became a catalyst for rapid growth of the #metoo movement. Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Louis C.K., and many, many more men from positions of influence.

It's a different world now, is it really? That question reverberates in the current handling of charges of sexual assault and harassment made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Not enough is being done about it or too much, depending on which side of the political divide is talking.

more: ArtPrize 2018: Detroit-area artists shine at Grand Rapids competition

But back to the Weinstein painting. It shows the notorious movie producer wearing a red shirt that's untucked as he looms over a seated ballerina who's dressed in white and warding off with upraised arms.

In a painting echoing classical paintings from centuries ago, Weinstein looks over his shoulder at another female dancer who's standing on one leg in an arabesque pose. She holds a pepper spray canister in her outstretched hand, ready to stop Weinstein from another attack.

"Not #MeToo: No More Couch Casting" is the title.

It's an understatement to say the painting raises a lot of questions. One of them is whose story is this to tell? Kevin Grass, who also teaches art at St. Petersburg College in Florida, is a man named Kevin Grass, who also teaches art at St. Petersburg College in Florida.

Grass says he was inspired by several things, including discussions with art history students who were also ballet dancers. They shared that the dance community has many of the same issues with harassment as the entertainment industry.

He also was influenced by Edgar Degas and how he would, in some of his paintings and drawings of the ballerinas, have these middle-aged men in there who were sort of Weinsteins of their day – or, as Smithsonian magazine describes it, "wealthy male subscription holders, called subscribers, who often lurked in the homes, flirted with the dancers in the wings and laid siege to their dressing rooms."

Grass says he felt OK about tackling the #metoo movement because "you heard Oprah and some other people in Hollywood talking about how it's not just women who need to speak up, but men too." He adds that the reaction of "probably 95 percent positive" – ​​both women and men.

The Weinstein painting is one of several entries that address the #metoo movement, which is not surprising. Art with Political and Social ArtPrize since 2009 inception, according to ArtPrize artistic director Kevin Buist.

"Whatever people are concerned with, artists are concerned with, because artists are people," says Buist. "The stuff that they're making is going to reflect those conversations and challenges and hopes and anxieties." forward conversations. "

Florida artist Kevin Grass next to his painting "Not #MeToo: No More Casting Couches" featuring an image of Harvey Weinstein. (Photo: Kevin Grass)

The Weinstein painting was selected by the Gerald Ford museum's ArtPrize committee, which will carefully scrutinize the works it will house inside its walls or on its grounds. The museum is a must-see stop on any ArtPrize tower. Since the competition began in 2009, it's been home to two grand-prize winners.

"We liked the painting," says Gerald Ford Museum deputy director Joel Westphal, "Weinstein painting.

Still, there's a lot of things to do with the Betty Ford exhibition, given the support of the women's movement and the Equal Rights Amendment. I think it would have been quite comfortable with having a short walk from her celebration. I bet she would have volunteered to hold the mace.

As I've tried to pinpoint what struck me most about Weinstein's presence at ArtPrize, I think it was a way of looking at a figure from a Renaissance painting, captured for all history in the midst of his villainy.

Yes, that's him. And it's been here for a few years now. Whenever Weinstein's face in the future, I'll remember that man's face on the canvas, facing a woman who's ready to stop.