Bay Area 51

We feel comfortable saying we like art. Art is really, truly, very great. We also think athletics are a terrific way to "engage with" those of different mind — and, more importantly, to create a hierarchy based on brute strength and a little strategy. So, Art Olympics? Finally! The good people at Bay Area 51, a local art and music emporium, have put together this completely unnatural marriage of art and sport in the form of nine events designed to bring out the playful spirit and omnipresent absurdity of the art world. So far, four teams are lined up to tackle the “Studio Challenge,” a sculpt-off that supplies each team with a pile of materials and adhesive agents, and gives them 30 minutes to Create. Each team must consume 30 beers and a pack of cigarettes while they work. (Way to make dead weight of the sober crowd!) Other events include the Painting Toss (“action painting at its worst,” according to the Web site), a joust employing oversize paintbrushes, and an endurance event in which the art-athletes stare at themselves in a mirror.
Sat., April 4, noon, 2009