No Borders Art Competition had it’s 4 Year Anniversary at Iron Cow (2438A East Robinson St, Orlando, Florida 32803. Located in the Milk District a free cocktail was available with any purchase from the menu.Louis Rivera who founded No Borders asked if I would come in and act as one of the judges for this historic Rematch. When Pam and I arrived I immediately found a spot close to the DJ Dolo with a view of the stage and I started sketching. The music pumped loud the entire night keeping the crowd pumped for each competition.
This event brought together 6 artists from the first 4 shows to celebrate our 4 year anniversary. They competed on our 4ft x 4ft canvases for 30 minutes. The artists competing were:
Earl Funk
Timmy Dub
Phelo
Smet
Ken Deft
Frost
Contestant battled for $50 worth of paint supplies on a 4ft by 4ft sleek canvas for 30 minutes. Artists were each given one black marker and a choice of one color
to create on a smooth canvas. The purpose was to out create their
opponent, keep it looking neat, and win over the judges as well as the
crowd in a short period of time.
The rules were:
Only a black marker could be used and the artists choice of one other
color. Contestants were judged by the time they took, overall
balance, cleanliness, originality and creativity.
I was there to help judge just one round. The competitors were Frost against Deft. Frost chose a Green Marker and created a post nuclear ooze. Deft who also created the No Borders logo chose red for his color and he was roasting his competitor. He drew a graffiti artist who ignited his spray paint and lit his competitor on fire. In researching the artists I found that many were tattoo artists. In Orlando most of the best draftsmen work as tattoo artists. In this round Deft was the winner.
We stayed to watch a second competition as Phelo faced off against Deft. Phelo created a canvas that seemed to have been burned at the edges with a scene themed around still smoking. Smet did a graffiti version of his name which seemed a boring solution. I love the energy of these artist competitions.