Rock Out with Your Cocktails Out!

Today marks the beginning of year 3 for Analog Artist Digital World. This years resolution is to keep the gears greased and begin work on the first AADW book. Drip dance company held a Fundraiser for their new show called RIFF. They may have found a new permanent home on International Drive and I suspect that in 2011 they will blow the roof off the house. The fundraiser was held at Blank Space (201 East Central Boulevard.) The venue was packed and talent was thick.

Singer, songwriter, Britt Daley took to the stage and performed songs from her recent CD release "Unsupervised EP." Her vibrant Electro-Pop filled the room and people started to move to the beat. The guitarist, James Christy, stomped on foot pedals and made constant adjustments to his sound. Joey Antrim on bass calmly set down his resonant consistent notes, while Jay Caudle who was hidden from my view with a large speaker, attacked the drums. Britt's music hit a wide spectrum of emotions from driving hard beats to melodic and soulful . One song, "Its too Late" reflected on the sorrow of realizing that it is too late to expect change from the one you love. I stopped sketching to let the music's sorrow envelop me. I was a little annoyed I let my mood swing so easily. I had been pumped, working feverishly only a minute earlier.

After her performance some hard core fund-raising began when a date with Britt was put up for auction. Steve Johnson, a semi nude DRIP dancer, acted as the auctioneer. I buried my hands deep in my pockets. Terry was sitting beside me, "but it was for such a good cause" I thought to myself. "Perhaps I should bid just to help drive up the price." My hands didn't budge. The bidding started lightly, $25 was soon raised to $50, but then a guy at the bar forced the bid up to $100. The crowd was hooting and hollering at this point with each successive bid. I was clapping and hollering myself, the price too rich for my shy blood. The final bid was $200 and the place went wild! I had a print of one of my DRIP sketches up for the silent auction. It didn't bring in anywhere near the money Britt did. Next time I auction my work it needs to be packaged with a date with a beautiful woman!

Drip Fundraiser at Blank Space

The Drip Dance Company held a fundraiser at Blank Space Gallery 201 East Central Boulevard across from the Public Library. This sketch shows Christie Miga at the Canvas dip station. She created this colorful canvas in minutes by pouring the paint onto its surface then letting it flow diagonally with gravity doing the work. The colors would blend and flow together in unexpected ways. Small canvases are stacked in the corner. For a small fee a guest could take a canvas and dip it on the pool of paints left on the plastic drop after Christie finished the big canvas. In the background in the corner of the room was something called a Sake Luge. This device had a guitar amplifier hooked up so that when sake was poured into the top it would flow down a series of slides and make a haunting ethereal sound on its route. The works of MC Esher were being projected on a screen. Steve acted as the DJ for the night. He stood behind his laptop computer the whole time mixing songs. Sam and Tin Tin, two drippies, were covered head to toe with monetary contribution amounts. Their bodies were divided up like those cattle meat charts you see describing cuts of beef. For $20 you could paint Tin Tin's butt cheek red or for $15 you might paint Sam's left breast.
There was a station set up to paint Christmas ornaments by dipping them is paint cans, or dripping the paint on using a brush or stirring stick. A young dancer would perform from a hoop that had been crudely hung from an exposed ceiling beam. The hoop dancers little sister was watching and tried to imitate her sisters performance before the crowds arrived.
I was sitting next to a ping pong table while I did the first sketch and it became difficult to draw as a game began and the guy on my end of the table took the game very seriously. He was slamming the ball as hard as he could and I was bumped more than a few times, but I persisted until the sketch was complete.
The walls were covered by the works of an artist who now had a line of Swatch watches based on his bold primitive work. The paintings remind me a bit of Keith Haring's subway chalk graffiti work from the 80's in NYC. AS I got ready to leave, I passed a group of girls on the sidewalk as they painted Sam's bicep. They were having a grand old time.
The Drip Dance group is now rehearsing for a new Valentines show called FRESH which will premiere on February 13th and 14th at City Arts Factory. Mark your calenders for what should be an amazing event!