monsters, and drawings, and rallies, oh my.

Yesterday I participated in a fundraising event called the Monster Drawing Rally for Southern Exposure, an artist run non-profit gallery here in San Francisco. The rules are like this: starting at 6:00pm, on the hour, thirty predetermined artists sit at tables in the middle of a ballroom and have an hour to make at least one drawing which will be sold for $60 the same night. Now, I know this may seem pretty straight-forward, but now add in a kajillion people and a dj and people fighting over drawings and all of the sweat from these kajillion fighting people and it turns into one of the most stressful spectacles I've ever taken part in. It's hard to start with a blank piece of paper and just make something happen while people are watching and with the second-hand of a clock wildly spinning, while sitting inside of a growing atmospheric cloud of human perspiration.

So I made a drawing, using the photo above as the premise, and the drawing was mediocre, and the drawing sold. And it sold to someone I know, so I imagine I'll have to see it again, at the very least to sign it, which I forgot to do. It was the first drawing I've ever sold, though I didn't actually see a penny of the profit and though I am unsure if it even deserved to be traded for legal tender. Though the experience was harrowing, I've already been telling people that I want to do it again next year (I hate being bad at things! I'm determined that I can do better!).