Recently we wrote about well-known Cleveland artist Loren Naji’s latest project: his hollow spherical sculpture Emoh, which he is taking on the road and living in to share ideas about vacancy, homelessness and reuse.
He left Cleveland following at launch event in Tremont September 9, and now is at his major initial destination, Grand Rapids, where he is competing for the Grand Rapids ArtPrize. The stakes are high: the international competition has attracted 1,400 entries for its pair of $200,000 grand prizes, decided by the public and a jury of experts. And Naji, who is living in the sphere in a Grand Rapids park for 3 ½ weeks, is attracting major attention. He reports that crowds are lining up from morning until night to check out his piece, conveniently installed in front of a Kilwin’s chocolate outlet.
He’s been covered by the local media in Michigan, including Western Michigan’s Fox17, the MLive Media Group, representing a consortium of eight Michigan papers, and Grand Rapids’ WZZM-TV, which has placed a 24-hour time-lapse camera inside the sphere to keep tabs on Naji.
But the project is attracting national attention as well. SFGate, the website of the San Francisco Chronicle, ran a piece on September 22. And finally, he snagged a feature in national news outlet USA Today that talks about the genesis of the project, composed of pieces from demolished homes, and his thoughts about the misplaced priorities in our country. He’s already said that if he wins he will make a significant donation to combat homelessness in northeast Ohio.
Follow Loren’s exploits at his Facebook page. By the way, you can register to vote for Loren! Go here.