Paul Baliker Sculpture

Local sculptor vies for $250,000 prize

Local sculptor Paul Baliker overcame an act of vandalism and won the hearts of voters to stay in the running for a $250,000 grand prize in an art competition.

Voters in Grand Rapids, Mich., have a week to decide whether Baliker, whose Flagler County gallery is an Ocean Shore Boulevard landmark, or one of nine other artists should win the contest's top honor.

Baliker's entry, called "A Matter of Time," is a wood sculpture that is 13 feet in diameter and features a man holding a globe surrounded by more than 40 different animals. The piece "focuses on man's position in nature," Baliker said by phone Friday from Grand Rapids.

"I love nature and this is my chance to make an environmental statement, so I went ahead and did it," said Baliker, 56.

Known for especially large sculptures that often depict Florida wildlife, some of Baliker's pieces can be seen locally at Daytona Beach International Airport, the Daytona Beach City Island and Ormond Beach libraries, and the Ocean Center.

Now in its second year, the aptly-named ArtPrize features a variety of artwork displayed at 192 venues, some of which include multiple pieces, throughout Grand Rapids, a city of about 190,000 people in west-central Michigan. Baliker's piece is displayed outside the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

More than 30,000 people cast a total of 448,633 votes in the first round of the competition, narrowing the field of entries from 1,713 artists to 10. People must visit a registration site in Grand Rapids to vote through Wednesday. The winner will be announced Thursday.

Baliker's bid hit a snag in mid-September when someone stole the centerpiece of his work, a globe made of epoxy and sawdust that sits in the hand of the man in the sculpture.

Vandalism and theft during ArtPrize have been rare, said Tyler Lecceadone, a spokesman for the competition, which touts itself as offering the world's richest prize. The missing globe is the only known instance where something has actually been stolen from a piece, he said.

Many of the entries are located outside and artists and venues are responsible for making sure each piece is secure.

But the theft hasn't hurt Baliker's shot at the top prize. The artist was able to replace the globe using a mold in his studio within about five days of its disappearance.

"I had about 30 minutes of trauma and drama in my own mind but when I realized I could get it replaced, I just moved on," he said. "It wasn't a big deal anymore."

Though "A Matter of Time," may make Baliker $250,000 richer, he didn't create the piece especially for ArtPrize. He spent about 15 years thinking about the work before the dip in the economy gave the artist time to craft his entry, which was already complete when he decided to enter ArtPrize.

ArtPrize is "the No. 1 event going on anywhere right now that concerns art," and something the Daytona Beach area may want to emulate, Baliker said.

"It was a very interesting competition in that the public actually votes for their favorite piece," he said. "It has done so much for this town."