Procrastination Vs. Motivation

Artists:

Leon Keer, Remko van Schaik,

Ruben Poncia and Peter Westerink

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dufois/

“The Sarasota Chalk Festival took place November 1 – 7, The 2011, celebrating ‘Pavement Art through the Ages’, by tracing the evolution of this ephemeral art-form from its thinly documented ancient roots to today’s diverse contemporary movements. A Gallery was featured and curated by Kurt Wenner and hosted by the Ringling College of Art and Design displaying historical documentation of Pavement Art and innovations of Wenner’s own art on pavement.

Starting November 1st, local artists and artists from around the world traveled to Sarasota to transform South Pineapple Avenue in Burns Square into a walking performance art museum of art history creating street paintings in the ‘Pavement Art through the Ages’ or “Going Vertical”. South Pineapple closed down on Tuesday, November 1st for the artists creating the over-sized 3D street paintings. Every day thereafter artists performed and painted throughout the City of Sarasota. On Friday morning, November 4th, all of South Pineapple Avenue from Orange to Dolphin Street closed for all street painters to start. Friday evening at 6pm the artists participating in the honoring of the 24-hour Grazie di Curtatone Madonnari Competition started and paint for 24-hours straight through the coldest night of the year. Artists finished painting by Sunday afternoon. Completed works of art were viewed on Monday, November 7th while South Pineapple remained closed for the day and attendance rose to an all time high for the week, estimating 150,000-200,000 visitors.

Demonstrations on various techniques of street painting were available by various professionals. Lectures and demonstrations on the history of pavement art, perspective and illusions, street painting techniques, architecture and architectural ornamentations, and much more.

Featured Events that took place: A magnificent outdoor stage was created by artist Micheal Kirby for the Sarasota Opera to perform Madama Butterfly at the event.

SEGMENTS OF THE STREET PAINTING THEME:

HISTORICAL PAVEMENT ART: Hundreds of years of Italian culture was depicted by artists as they each embark on various periods of time prior to WWII in 1939.

FIRST FESTIVAL: A segment of the festival honored and recreated the first street painting festival that started in Mantua, Italy in 1973 the “Grazie di Curtatone”. With the desire to preserve the street painting art form that virtually disappeared after WWII, the Mantua festival invited the last known artists with the oldest being in his 90′s. The festival is a 24-hour competition with Christian inspiration. The highest honors is to be awarded the Maestro Madonnaro/Madonnari.

3D PAVEMENT ART: Starting in the early 1980′s American artist Kurt Wenner was inspired by anamorphism, a technique used in frescoed ceilings to create the illusion of height, he devised a unique geometry that enabled him to bring this illusions to the horizontal surface of the street. This new art form, known as anamorphic, illusionistic or simply 3-D street painting has become a worldwide phenomenon with many fabulous artists showcasing their 3-D skills.”