(For immediate release)

I Will Win 3 – The Statue The renowned Dutch artist Erik Van Loon will unveil his third ‘I Will Win’ self-portrait, all 33 x 20 feet of it Guerilla Art style alongside the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 4th. ING New York City Marathon 98 Lincoln Ave. Bronx November 4th 2007, New York The artist: Erik Van Loon +1 347 605 7173 (US) +31 6 E VAN LOON (EU) newyork@erikvanloon.com www.erikvanloon.com/iww

On November 4^th, 2007, renowned Dutch artist Erik Van Loon will reveal his third ‘I Will Win’ self- portrait ‘I Will Win 3 – The Statue.’  He will do this Guerilla Art Style alongside the course of the NYC Marathon, in order to show his latest self-portrait to approximately 38,000 runners and 260 million TV viewers in 125 countries for six to seven seconds.

Inspiration
Inspired by Google Earth in 2005, Erik van Loon decided to make an artwork that would be recognizable on satellite photographs. Limited by his studio in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and NASA technology, he learned he could only order a stamp-sized photo for no less than $5,000!  Disappointed about the huge amount of money required for such a small photo, he decided to show his portrait alongside one of the biggest sports and media events in the world: The New York City Marathon.

Guerilla Art
After several unsuccessful attempts to reach the organizing committee of the NYC Roadrunners by phone, letter and email, he arrived in New York in 2005 without permission or contacts, but determined to show his self-portrait to the world. He succeeded in his very first attempt to arrange a location. Mr. Anthony M. Riccio, Sr., Vice President of the Harlem River Yard Ventures in the Bronx, agreed immediately to show ‘I Will Win’ at his yard during the NYC marathon.

"He's just full of energy, I mean, I have never seen a person so interested and devoted to what he is doing.  So how do you say no to that?  You don't." - Anthony Riccio, Sr., TV Rijnmond" (http://www.erikvanloon.com/iww/nl/iww1/publicaties.htm)

The Series
Erik Van Loon chose to make these self-portraits as part of the rich Dutch tradition in self-portraiture, exemplified by such great Dutch masters as Van Eyck, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and more recently Akkerman. Self-portraiture is by far one of the most difficult disciplines in the arts, but Van Loon prefers this type of challenge.  He painted ‘I WILL WIN’ (2005) using the colors and elements of the American flag and the Dutch Royal House of Orange, and in ‘I WILL WIN 2 – THE NEWS’ (2006), an auto- biographical self-portrait using pictures and words, he demonstrates the use of letters and words in imagery to challenge and stimulate the viewer’s experience of art much in the same way that Johns, Nauman and Rauschenberg did.