ArtPrize 2025: David Stricklen’s ‘Space and Time’
25 Sept. 2025
By Justin Tiemeyer
Contributing Writer
David Stricklen was the chief of airport police at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport, until he retired in 2008 and went all in on his creative side. His 2025 ArtPrize entry, “Space and Time,” on display at The B.O.B. at 20 Monroe Avenue NW, is just one instance of the benefits of investing in creativity.
Stricklen has submitted an entry to ArtPrize every year since 2017 with the exception of 2020, when the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they have all followed the same theme of 3d reverse perspective art. Stricklen has also written four middle-grade fantasy adventure books.
What is unique about “Space and Time” is the fact that the geometric painting appears to change shape and move as you walk past. Instead of sending a photo to the Lowell Ledger to show the effect, he had to send a video, and viewers at The B.O.B. are encouraged to stare at it straight on, then move all the way to the left, then move all the way to the right.
“The fun of it, is it’s kind of creating the puzzle, and I don’t know the answer when I create it,” Stricklen said. “I do it for me, because it’s recreation. It’s fun. I never know, when I start, if I’m going to pull it off this time.”
To make this sort of painting, a lot of trial and error is involved. Stricklen lays down an angle or a shadow, steps back, and assesses whether it is right or wrong. Fortunately, acrylic dries quickly, so it is easy to correct if his first attempt is not spot on. With the type of geometric designs he makes, you would think that he spends a lot of time with a tape measure or ruler, but you would be wrong. Stricklen has an intuitive grasp of measurement in his paintings.
“My eye doesn’t lie,” Stricklen said. “If it looks right, it is right.”
One time he did the guesswork on one of his pieces, then he measured everything out, and his eye’s measurement came within 1/32 of an inch.
Stricklen’s obsession with 3d reverse perspective art began 20 years ago during a trip to San Francisco. Stricklen and wife stumbled upon a painting of a row of doors by Patrick Hughes that looked like it was moving. At first it appeared to be mechanical, but it was not mechanical. “I’m not taking another step until I figure this out,” Stricklen said. “I put my eye up to it, and it made sense to me, but it didn’t make sense to my wife.”
Shortly thereafter, Stricklen made his first 3d reverse perspective piece out of cardboard. “Where can I take this that Patrick Hughes has never taken it?” Stricklen asked himself.
After his second 3d reverse perspective painting, Stricklen reached out to Hughes, who mailed him a $64 book of his life and works. “Every year since that time, as soon as I finish a painting, I send him a video,” Stricklen said. “He sends me what he’s doing. Once he said, ‘You and I are both on a journey of exploration with reverse perspective.’ I mean, he knows who Dave Stricklen is, you know? And who is he? He’s Patrick Hughes. If I hadn’t seen that row of doors, I wouldn’t know that I have reverse perspective.”
Stricklen has a prime spot at one of the most respected venues, and he has been an ArtPrize finalist three times. He has also won the Colors of Community competition twice and placed second once.
When Stricklen first entered Colors of Community, he submitted his piece just to get it out there. As they counted down the top ten, Stricklen sat there thinking, “Please call me.” Then they reached number two, and it was not him.
“I drop my head,” Stricklen said. “I’m thinking, ‘I’m getting nothing.’ I drove all this way…” Then they announced the winner of the competition as David Stricklen.
“I was blown away,” Stricklen said. “I was glassy-eyed. I went up there, got the money, got the ribbon, and someone said to me, ‘I knew you were going to win.’ Well, I didn’t know. That moment was a moment I’ll probably never have again and not everyone gets to have.”
David Stricklen’s “Space and Time” is on display now at The B.O.B. at 20 Monroe Avenue NW (Vote ID 96741). The piece is not available for purchase because “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” has already bought it, and it will be shipped to Surfer’s Paradise, Queensland, Australia, after ArtPrize concludes. To follow Stricklen beyond ArtPrize, check out his artist Facebook under David Stricklen or his website blackwaterpond.com.
