OVERHEAD SKETCH BATTLES
Breeze
A gathering of like-minded folk chatting, pointing, sipping wine and being very democratic.
Art is hard to judge. Unlike being back in school and getting graded on how well you shaded your apple. In the real world, it’s entirely subjective (but arguably, so is good taste). You may strongly like or dislike a piece and may not even be able to explain why – it’s just how you feel. So the idea of artists ‘battling’ to ‘win’ has as much logic to me as a childhood rhyme I remember: “One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead knights got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other.” There are no absolutes.
Mr Alpha
That being said, to a discerning crowd, opinion does matter. Art matters. Give me two options, make me choose the ‘better’ one and voila, suddenly my opinion counts. Power to the people – it’s a nice feeling.
Kevin Love
So, bright-eyed intrigue lead me to the first round of the Overhead Sketch Battles hosted by Grayscale Gallery and spanning over four weeks, suddenly every Thursday night I had a purpose, a voice.
Rowan Toselli
Warm hip hop beats fuelled a friendly atmosphere. ‘Warm’ many would argue due to the enthusiastic heaters rigged up in obscure corners of the room. I felt like I was having my own personal summer. That, or an early onset of menopause. A sharp contrast to the crisp Jo’burg evening air.
The premise: basically two artists square up against each other and throw down, and by ‘throw down’ I mean draw for an hour on opposite ends of the room. The materials? Two permanent markers of different sizes. The medium? A plastic transparency. The feature? Well, depending on where you’re looking, but a lone artist hunched over the bright light of an overhead projector while everyone watches. Line by line. Smudge by smudge. No brief. No guide lines. Just whatever pops into their heads. Intimidating stuff.
ben
I’d position myself smack bang in the middle and, indicative of a tennis match, my head would snap from side to side watching the opposite ends of the room in anticipation of what the opponents were serving. There’s something special about being involved with an art piece from birth to completion, even if you’re just a spectator.
AE
The featured artists were: Breeze, ben, Mr Alpha, Rekzo, AE, Kevin Love, Rowan Toselli and Myza 420. All sporting a different style and discipline – some more graffiti based, some more illustrative – either way it made for a productive night in Braamfontein.
Rekzo
Each battle was followed by a very grown up voting session (with a stamp pad and everything) and the winners announced and carried over to the next week; the ultimate winner being Breeze. As first prize, we have a solo exhibition to look forward to from the man. He also got a trophy.
The artists’ work from all the battles will be exhibited at Grayscale Gallery until 7 July 2011. There are limited edition poster prints for purchase.
Words by Lauren Bow. Photos courtesy of www.pndwind.blogspot.com
Myza 420
The Break Down:
Round 1
Rekzo vs AE (Rekzo wins)
ben vs Myza420 (ben wins)
Round 2
Mr Alpha vs Rowan Toselli (Mr Alpha wins)
Breeze vs Kevin Love (Breeze wins)
Semi Finals
ben vs Rekzo (ben wins)
Mr Alpha vs Breeze (Breeze wins)
Finals
ben vs Breeze (Breeze wins)
Third Place
Mr Alpha vs Rekzo (Rekzo wins)
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