The wrestling-themed art battle attracted a crowd to watch the fresh batch of contestants face off with their palettes and paints
By MATTHEW MCELDOWNEY — art@theaggie.org
Secret Spot and Sudwerk Brewery collaborated on Aug. 17 to bring Art Mania back to Davis. Following their successful Art Mania in February of this year, the owners and organizers of Secret Spot orchestrated another wrestling-themed art competition where local artists performed in front of a live audience — and were pitted against one another to win the hearts and minds of the crowd.
In each round, the contestants painted two costumed figure models for an hour with intermissions set for onlookers to gauge their progress. During this time the artists competed to win over the crowd, not only with their skills on the canvas but also through their actions to secure support at the end. Once the time was up, the organizers tallied up support for competing artists based on how much noise the audience made.
Hoping to turn the brewery into a battleground, “Kitty Venus” promised equal parts style and suffering to her opponents.
“Major Payne” reveled in the jeers of the crowd, personifying the threat and controversy of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in creative industries and potentially raising the question: what would it mean for the arts if she had come away with the title?
As a face in the competition, “The Lawd” sought victory through his unwavering good vibes and positive outlook on life.
Despite the pressures of a live audience and his impressive adversaries, “The Sensitive Cowboy” and his passion for horses would push him to come out and show his skills and excellent mustache.
“A Brush with Death” may appear as your typical heel — however, her painting style is anything but predictable.
Keeping her competitors on the backfoot, “Ctrl+Z” hoped to erase them through her relentless and meticulous painting style. She infused each of her paintings with layers and layers of emotion and pain.
Harry Greer (HG), an owner of Secret Spot and the announcer at the event, recalled some of the highlights of Art Mania’s first round, where only three artists were left standing.
“There was this moment where ‘[The] Sensitive Cowboy’ was so overwhelmed with his painting that he threw his palette at the painting, cracking it in half,” HG said. “‘The Lawd,’ currently working on a project to paint 151 Pokémon, created a painting inspired by this passion. ‘A Brush with Death’ covered her canvas in a vibrant pink to make her characters come to life, only to slash away at them with crimson strokes.”
These artists made an impressive effort but were narrowly beaten out by the remaining competitors: “Ctrl+Z,” “Major Payne” and “Kitty Venus.” “Ctrl+Z” with her unique painterly style, “Major Payne” with her eye-popping abstract art and “Kitty Venus” with her stylish caricatures would earn them a spot in the final round, determining the winner of the Art Mania 2 title and belt.
“‘Ctrl+Z’ worked on the painting before covering it all up and painting over it again,” HG said. “Each time, it would be cool to see how her painting would turn out. ‘Major Payne’ as the AI, choosing to do collage for her painting, was really hilarious. At the very end, ‘Kitty Venus,’ the winner, realized that she did not have enough room on her canvas for a head for one of the models, so she took a Crayola box to tape it to the top.”
This out-of-the-box thinking set her act just above the rest in the final round and won her the Art Mania 2 championship belt. .
Toni Rizzo, the Secret Spot co-owner and manager, said he was impressed with the local artists for their ultimate act of vulnerability to create the show they put on.
“They were so nervous and had to do so much work to pump themselves up and be there,” Rizzo said.
While the artists were the main attraction, Rizzo said he was grateful for the stars behind the scenes, especially those at Sudwerk Brewery who helped with the set-up and provided the venue that allowed for the event to take place.
Third Space Art Collective provided free art supplies to complete the atmosphere of Art Mania 2. As much as the competition was intended to bring Davis arts to the forefront of the city, the Davis community also came together to make Art Mania 2 the special event it was.
Rizzo and HG were also excited to announce the date for Art Mania 3 on Nov. 15 and teased the return of former Art Mania 1 and 2 contestants with a fresh twist: a battle royale showdown.
Rizzo said he looks forward to hosting more events like this and pushing the boundaries of the local art scene in Davis.
“I think the beauty of why me and HG do what we do is because of the risk involved, and when we have these crazy ideas, we go for it,” Rizzo said.
Written by: Matthew Mceldowney — art@theaggie.org
