The Boxer: Newsprint is Always Worth Fighting For

Posted on by Thor

After finishing a backstage sketch of Brian Feldman’s The Boxer, I fumbled my way through the black curtains and decided to get a sketch out front. I was quickly distracted by some beautiful women dressed as playing cards. The Ace of Hearts smiled at me and I felt I needed to get a sketch of her. She quickly left the scene before I could even get my sketch pad out.

Brian’s mother and father were there to show their never-ending support for him and his work. His mom was dancing, which was great to see. Brian’s dad kept bringing me food. I guess he thought I was a starving artist and thus felt the need to keep me nourished while I sketched. There was a cake made in the shape of Creative Loafing’s red newspaper box. There had been talk of Brian using the cake for his performance but he told the organizers that he wasn’t that kind of performance artist. Brian’s dad brought me a huge chunk of cake and I later saw that it matched the size of a huge chunk that had been carved out of the cake box sculpture.

The cover band on stage would have been fine for a wedding, but they lacked the energy needed to get the whole crowd onto the dance floor. Hannah noted that the white female singer trying to match the energy of Tina Turner missed the mark.

I walked around the venue with Hannah Miller. She convinced me that I had to try hitting a golf ball in one of those virtual projection screen scenarios. I knew I would likely make a fool of myself but decided to give it a try anyway. I had to give away all my personal information on a form before someone asked me which club I would like to use for the 250-yard swing. I had no idea, and just took whatever club I was handed. My first swing was actually impressive, the camera followed my golf ball, and it landed just short of the mark but bounced down into a ravine. I thought I might hit the mark with my second swing. Hannah had her camera out and was shooting footage as my club bounced off the carpet and the ball sputtered along the fake green. If you see any footage of me taking an awful swing at a golf ball, you can ignore it, it is fake news. My first swing was glorious.

After my humiliation, I decided to return to The Boxer to sketch. The lights on the archway made the scene look like a vaudeville set. People’s eyes would light up when they saw Brian, and they would quickly approach to take the paper. Upon arriving, I had originally thought that the newspaper box being placed in a back corner of the venue would be a problem, but it wasn’t. People constantly approached and Brian gave away over a skid of papers that night. He certainly gave away more papers than he ever did at the Orlando performances.

At 9:30pm, the lights in the venue flickered and the performance was over. Lee started taking down the black curtains and packed them away in a suitcase. Brian’s girlfriend posed for a quick photo in the box before everything was broken down. Brian suggested we all meet at a nearby movie theatre to see Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s new film Digger, but it was starting in 5 minutes. It took me about half an hour circling around the block to find the hotel parking lot, so I never made it to the movie.

I laughed, I cried, and newspapers were handed out. It was a good night.

The Boxer: Backstage

Posted on by Thor

I have sketched Brian Feldman’s The Boxer twice in Orlando, Florida. The first time was on the sidewalk outside of Orlando Weekly’s Best of Orlando 2011 Party. At that performance I was asked to move along by the police. I persisted and still got the sketch. I then sketched The Boxer 15 years later at The Plaza Theater, where it was once again part of Orlando Weekly’s “Best of” festivities.

Brian then brought The Boxer to Saint Petersburg, Florida where it would be part of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s Best of the Bay 2026 Party. Brian offered me a rare opportunity to sketch his performance piece from backstage. The premise of The Boxer is that Brian is inside a tiny street newspaper box as he hands out copies of the paper. It is a rare case of adding a human touch to keeping newsprint alive.

Since Saint Petersburg is such a long drive, Brian offered me a hotel room as well. I decided to ask his former wife, Hannah Miller to join me on the trip. In 2010, Brian had a performance where he would marry anybody. He spun a bottle in the Orange County Courthouse to pick his bride. The point was that a heterosexual could marry a stranger while a gay couple who had been in love for years were not allowed to marry. The spin of the bottle pointed at Hannah, and they were married soon after in a strange informal ceremony where one person was wearing a wrestling mask. Hannah was a consummate spokesperson to explain to the media why she had married a longtime friend but romantic stranger. Brian was so happy to see Hannah in the Saint Petersburg Coliseum (535 4th Ave N, St Petersburg, FL) and gave her a warm hug before he got in the box.

Brian’s staging area was filled with piles of Creative Loafing newspapers. There were about two skids of papers that he would be distributing. The larger skid I left out of my sketch since including it would have made Brian way too small in the sketch. Production manager Lee Soule rifled through papers on Brian’s behalf.

Brian lay prone on the floor with his face in the newspaper box window. He extended his hand out so people could see that he had newspapers to give away. I thought Brian had his hips on a foam pad, but Hannah informed me that he just had a cardboard box under his butt. He would have to back out occasionally to grab more papers. He let out a groan multiple times making it clear his positioning wasn’t comfortable. Twinkling lights viewable above the black curtains hinted at a magical event happening just beyond the staging area. Red lights were shining on the red newsbox and light streamed through a narrow gap in the curtain to illuminate a short pile of newspapers.

People were so gracious and grateful each time they got a paper from Brian. I am certain there were plenty of selfies taken, although I couldn’t see them from where I sat. One lady said Brian had the best seat in the house as she took her paper. When my sketch was complete, I went out front and picked up a paper for myself from Brian. I leafed through it briefly, looking for the Saint Petersburg events calendar, and tried to give it back, but Brian refused to take it. I walked around to various food vendors with Hannah with the paper under my arm. There were some delicious vegetarian options. I had trouble handling all the tiny paper plates and utensils that came with the food. I “misplaced” the paper when Hannah and I ate at one of the standing tables.

Performance art you can drink with a straw!

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Fresh Squeezed at the Morean Arts Center (719 Central Ave, Saint Petersburg, Florida 33701),  featured the work of six emerging artists picked from a pool of almost 80 applicants. Award-winning
performance artist Brian Feldman is presenting a juicy new project
of the same name; his first in Tampa Bay.

“Fresh Squeezed” will
be the longest performance art piece in Pinellas County history, as
well as of Brian’s career, at 140 hours over 23 days. During
each weekend of the exhibition, Brian Feldman will be in the gallery
window meticulously making and serving 100% fresh squeezed Florida
orange juice in compostable cups for gallery goers to enjoy, and all for
the price of a drawing.

Draw him a picture of an orange for a small!
A picture of a glass of orange juice gets you a medium!
Or you can draw Brian making your orange juice and receive a large!

Colored pencils, crayons, markers, watercolor paint sets and card stock paper will all be provided.

Of course I had to make the several hour drive to earn a large orange juice. Unfortunately this sketch was done in my sketchbook and thus didn’t qualify. Therefor I did a second much simpler sketch to get a tall sip of juice. As a bonus, Brian’s family was there. Brian’s dad did a rather nice drawing of Brian with an orange slice behind his head much like a halo, although I doubt that was his angelic intention. I was surprised when he threw it in the garbage rather than cash it in for a cup of juice. After the Feldman’s left, I confiscated the sketch from the trash and decided to cash it in myself. It was a simple case of recycling and re-purposing the art. I filled out the questionnaire on the back of the sketch in Ed’s name. Brian was concerned that I was turning in stolen art. After any war, art mysteriously makes its way into museum collections. My confiscated submission only earned me 1/4 cup of juice. Crime barely pays.


A reporter asked Brian for an interview. His first question was, “Do you live in Saint Petersburg?” “Well, No.” Brian explained, “I’m from Orlando.” The interviewer stopped him, He just needed to talk to locals. He had no interest in Brian’s award winning career. Brian smiled and then laughed. The interviewer turned to Brian’s family and we all laughed since no one in the room at the time was from Saint Petersburg.


People walking by would often stop to peek in and see what was happening. Some of them would stop in for a free juice. The room was packed all day with children, both young and old, sketching their hearts out. Brian made the event fun and interactive by learning everyone’s name as he explained the performance. People shared stories as they created. This was a shared community experience. The entire performance is being streamed live on Periscope TV.

Oranges are being provided by Maxwell Groves est. 1935. The wall behind me had empty orange boxes stacked high. Brian was getting close to squeezing his 700th cup of juice. If you want to get a delicious cup of orange juice, get out to Fresh Squeezed. On Thursday April 6th, Brian will be giving a fresh squeezed gallery talk starting at 7pm. Fresh Squeezed, the exhibition runs through April 30th.

Evoca 1 paints a mural at Falcon Bar in Thornton Park.

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Artist Evoca1 paint original artwork on the wall outside The Falcon Bar and Gallery last week. The artwork is curated by The Falcon and sponsored by Thornton Park District Main Street.

About the artist:
Dominican-born and Miami-based, Evoca1 is a figurative painter, designer and muralist, who is strongly influenced by his Latin American culture. Founder of Sketches for Mankind, Evoca1 works to raise awareness to important local and world issues through art. His powerful imagery can be seen on walls from Mexico to Peru to England.

About this project:
The Falcon become a fan of Evoca1 after seeing his work in the Wynwood Arts District in Miami during Art Basel a few years back and then again more recently in Saint Petersburg, FL during the Shine On Mural Festival. His figurative style is what attracted us to his work and is also what makes it unique from the more traditional mural styles. Evoca1 and The Falcon chatted about what makes The Falcon Bar and Gallery and Thornton Park District distinctive and he came up with a concept that compliments our beautiful historic neighborhood and the uniqueness of The Falcon Bar and Gallery.

I loved how boldly the artist worked. His first bold brushstrokes that blocked in the composition where still visible as I sketched. He used a large paint pan as a palette and worked on the mural like it was an oil painting, gradually building up the lights.  He used a large flat house paint brush as his tool of choice. He spent most of the well refining the mural. Periodically admirers would stop and ask a few questions.

The Salvador Dali Museum

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The Dali Museum is in Saint Petersburg Florida. The city has a definite “Artsy” vibe. The museum is right next to an airport. It was actually a bit chilly on the morning I was there. I got to the museum before it opened and decided to sketch the building and gardens before going in. The cement “bench” was in the sun. I leaned back against a light pole and warmed up as I sketched. The architecture of the museum is fascinating, with a glass dome wrapping around the back of the building like an octopus. The garden was arranged as a maze with surreal melting benches. A gentleman admired my work. He tripped on some grass and fell on top of me. I broke his fall. I got a comment from a reader the other day saying that my work is kind of literal, and they would like to see me work in a more surreal or impressionistic style. As soon as man discovered how to make art, there was the art critic.

In the lobby there was an old vintage car that had a mermaid in the back seat. Windows were dripping. The driver wore a heavy metal divers helmet. From the book, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” I remember reading about Dali showing up at a party in such a diving helmet. The faceplate got stuck and Dali almost suffocated to death.

A security guard made me leave my artist stood downstairs when I checked in. I wouldn’t be relaxing and sketching any galleries. The collection has work from Dali back from his student days. I respect the fact that Dali was expelled from art school because he felt he knew more about art than his teachers. Some of his paintings were huge. One piece showed a woman standing and looking out at an ocean through a cross shaped window. There was a small portrait of Lincoln hidden in a panel. Later from across the room I saw the painting again in a whole new light. The hole huge 20 foot high canvas was a portrait of Lincoln but I couldn’t see it from up close. These sort of inspired surprises are when Dali is at his best. I remember hearing that Dali got annoyed that the paper used at Disney Feature Animation had peg holes in it, when he was doing developmental work for Destino back in 1946.