Paint Splatters: A Brief Run-down on Live Art

Today, I spent nearly four hundred dollars at the art store.

I am not an artist. I have only ever bought cute knick knacks or things to write with at the art store. In college, I may have spent twenty or thirty dollars once or twice on paper and pencils, but four hundred? Never would I have imagined myself spending such a staggering amount at an art store.

Why? Well, let me tell you a little story.

Last year I attended a lovely convention in Chicago by the name of C2E2 (the chicago comics and entertainment expo). It was my first visit to Chicago and I was enamored by the artsy culture of the city immediately, but was distracted by convention duties and so on and so forth. On the second night of the convention, I attended an afterparty, as I do. One of the main attractions of this after party was A) I was on the guest list because ifanboy/graphic.ly were involved, which meant GOODIE BAGS! And drink tickets. And B) It was advertised as a "live art" event.

Live art was a term I had heard thrown around, mostly by artists I followed on twitter, but I didn't really put much thought into what it could be. I had visions of artists hunched over a table with a camera trained over their shoulder as they created a pin up or a page to a comic book, but mostly I didn't know what to expect. And let's be honest, I was mostly going for the booze and good company, anyway.

 

Well, I quickly became distracted from my primary reasons for being there the moment I walked in the door of the venue. Giant boards of plywood were leaned against the wall as paint smeared artists spray painted, markered, and flicked acrylic onto massive canvases. A great DJ was spinning jivey tunes, and the artists painted with whatever was within reach – including beer. They collaborated on pieces together, drew silly or beautiful things, and painted each other's clothes. I was completely mesmerized.

As a non artist, I have always been fascinated with the process of art. As a comics dork, this interest has only heightened over the years. And here I was, standing flabbergasted with drink in hand as talented comic book artists created fantastic pieces right in front of my eyes. It was so raw and organic and ultimately fantastic and entertaining that I was immediately hooked.

After C2E2, I attended many live art events. Perhaps one of my favourites was at San Diego Comic Con, where I destroyed one of Ben Templesmith's suits by drawing a unicorn on the back of it (a very bad unicorn, mind you) with paint, and where I watched Dave Crosland, Jim Mahfood, and Templesmith all paint all over one another's nice clothes. Ming Doyle also participated, and when the canvases ran out the venue let everyone paint on the walls. It was an alcohol soaked, musically sound, and organically entertaining event.

 

  

 

So after going to a handful of these sorts of soirees, I began to think: Why not host my own? I know plenty of artists, and I am good at party planning and things like that. Emerald City Comic Con seemed like the perfect excuse for me to throw a party of this proportion, so I set out to make it happen. I acquired three fantastic sponsors to cover the cost of the art supplies, found a solid venue, coerced a dear friend into DJing, and suddenly I was the proud hostess of a Seattle live art event.

So the reason I spent four hundred dollars at the art store today and had to have three people help me carry everything downtown? Because this Friday is going to be PHENOMENAL.

I don't want to turn this article into a giant advertisement for my live art event, but I will take a moment to say how delicious it is going to be. We have good tunes, insanely talented artists, a venue that is so vibey and lovely you won't want to leave, and it's all taking place Friday, March 4th at 9:30pm in the incredible Emerald City.

 

  

Getting the event together was challenging in and of itself, but I am really delighted to be able to bring this sort of gathering of talent together for the public's enjoyment. I feel like too often the process of art is forgotten by the glory of the finished pieces… and it's very obvious that the artists enjoy this sort of thing, because it gives them a chance to cut loose and paint for no one but themselves.

Even if you can't make it out to Seattle for this live art event, make sure to attend one in your city of choice. They slowly seem to be building popularity, and once you've experienced one it's very obvious why.

Myself and everyone at ifanboy and graphic.ly hope to see you on Friday, or at another live art event in the future!

 

 

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Molly McIsaac is overly ambitious and probably never sleeps, but that's ok, because she's an alien anyway. She enjoys a cuddling her dog in her 2 seconds of spare time, and sometimes she dresses up like comic book characters and prances about. Follow her misadventures on twitter!