6.23.2006
PALO ALTO DAILY NEWS
Eclectic Art at a Club Near You
By Sharon Brock

MORE THAN 30 painters, musicians and dancers will collaboratively unleash their talents at tonight’s Pacific Art Collective COLLABO, from 7:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. at the Avalon Nightclub in Santa Clara.

Twenty-two Bay Area painters will be painting a 24 by 4-foot wall throughout the night while hip-hop, jazz, reggae and indie-rock bands set the ambiance for this high-energy, creative event. Top bands include East Bay hip-hop sensation Crown City Rockers (who will be headlining instead of Day One Symphony) and 10-piece hip-hop collective, Kungfu Vampire from San Jose. More creative commotion will be performed by stand-up poetry crew, Slam Team San Jose, Dollar Bin Quintet DJs, body painters and professional dancers. And, there will be a silent, wet-paint auction for 2 by 4-foot sections of the painted wall.

“Our collaborative art events give people the opportunity to experience several flavors of art and cultural traditions, all at one time,” says Wil Rowan, founder, art director and curator of PAC. “I hope people
gain inspiration and appreciation for collaborative art and that the artists network, work together and support each other based on them being actual artists and not just a brand.”

Since it was founded in 2002, PAC has put on more than 70 collaborative art events at various venues in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Portland, Ore. Over the years, PAC has featured more than 500 contemporary, multi-disciplinary artists from across the globe.

Next month, PAC will participate in San Francisco Magazine’s “Best of the Bay” event where they will be exhibiting and painting live for more than 2,000 people.

Since April of last year, PAC has been performing an ongoing quarterly event, Cultural Xposure, at the San Jose Museum of Art, which attracts roughly 1,000 guests per show. Rowan says the overall experience of these events is “cultural exposure through unity of art.”

Among the 22 painters in tonight’s event is well-known graffiti artist and professional painter Ryan Stubbs, alias
“Duser,” who is in his third year performing with PAC. Applying his graffiti skills from his childhood days in Denver, Col., Stubbs spray-paints industrial materials, such as wood and metal, and uses high-gloss enamel to paint bold, melancholy human-animal creatures. To accompany the graphic caricatures, he often includes text that conveys social commentary.

Although Stubbs enjoys the solitude of painting alone, he thrives on the energy of painting with other artists at PAC. “It’s a very inspiring way to work because the energy that surrounds you, from the other artists and from the crowd, becomes part of the piece,” says Stubbs. “At PAC events, the amount of talent under one roof is striking and every event is unique because the exact same lineup will never exist again.”

As the artists paint the wall, professional ballet dancer Tiffany Glenn will give a four-act performance accompanied by the soulful funk band, Human Revolution Soul. Glenn who just completed her fifth season with Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, has performed with PAC for over two years. She designs her entire PAC performance, from the choreography, to the costumes, to the music and lighting. Combining elements of ballet, jazz, African and modern dance styles, she has created a unique style all her own, called “Glenn Movement.” In tonight’s performance, she will use unusual props such as an oversized music box, a rope hanging from the ceiling and a skateboard. “With PAC events, the crowd’s eyes are opened. They’re exposed to something
they’ve never seen before,” says Glenn. “I think everyone’s eyes should be open to what is possible in the art
world, and what is here in the city they live in.”

Another highly anticipated performance will be the 10-piece orchestrated hip-hop band, Kungfu Vampire. Frontman Vincent Vaughan says this is “rap for non-rap fans” since the band fuses hints of opera, cabaret and swing into their tracks. The eclectic sound, accompanied by the band’s very own belly dancer, is created by six males and four females who play a variety of instruments, including cello, violin, bass, guitar, keyboards, and tribal drums.

“In a world filled with cookie-cutter, commercial, superficial, low-attentionspan art and music, lies some fresh air and organic substance we call the Pacific Art Collective,” says Vaughn.

[ Original PDF and pix from the Palo Alto Daily News Article ]

 

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