Make Some Noise!

for a painting smackdown????!!!! (say what?)

Luchador Poetry & Art Brings You Poems and Piledrivers in August

By Michael Klam

Let's get ready to RUMBLE. You've never seen anything like this:

Live painting smackdown, anyone? Luchadores --wrestlers-- fighting it out with paintbrushes on a blank canvas? Nacho Libre meets Van Gogh in a schizophrenic battle of colors?

"What?" you say. Well, listen here dear fans of wrestling and poetry, Victor Payan and Sandra Pocha Pe?a of Aztec Gold TV and Tequila Mockingbird Productions will be putting on a bit of literary madness at Poetry & Art on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the museum.

Expect to see: the spontaneous creation of a painting by two luchadores in a good old chromatic smackdown, a battle between good and not so good; video clips of interviews by Lou Chalibre, El Host Enmascarado, with the likes of cartoonist Sergio Aragones of Mad Magazine fame, infamous poet/performance artist Guillermo G?mez Pe?a, and actor Jack Black; a Lucha-Novela, in which audience members are enlisted to don masks and enact a scene, via cue cards, of an original luchador skit; and a lucha-related art exhibit.

There will be food, nachos, salsa, guacamole and mariachi music throughout (well, maybe just a little mariachi music). Connect 3 with Ginger Placek will also be back to show and discuss painting and photography and perhaps even Aztec jewelry.

Our resident P&A musician, Zuri Waters, will fill the void with Latino sax. Er...As always, there will be open mic to follow the Aztec Gold feature. As you know, Poetry & Art, the San Diego Art Institute's quarterly museum series, gives artists an opportunity to express themselves in a variety of forms and styles. The free speech event reveals the diversity and importance of the region's artists.

The audience will hear poetry and prose in dialogue with painting, photography, sculpture, music and dance. The featured artists, in this case, the wrestlers, serve not only as entertainment but also as inspiration for developing artists.

So smack on your tights. Don your favorite luchador mask. Bring your poems and paintings on Wednesday, Aug. 16. And step up to the mic.

BE THERE!