We are Beautiful Losers: when art meets music

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Parties with art on the wall

We Are Beautiful Losers is the brainchild of Gordon, a CT-based creative/art activist - the concept of art gallery meets music meets party is based on the beginnings of the Alleged Gallery in New York founded by Aaron Rose - visual artist, film director, art show curator and writer. Rose was one of the many catalysts in the early 90s that saw the rise in the DIY street art movement in the US (see Beautiful Losers (2008)). The Alleged Gallery hosted plenty of these "parties with art on the wall" - art not taught; art with no restrictions. Rose dubbed it lawless art, art with no rules.

Exhibiting artists included; Senyol, Wesley van Eeden, Bruce Mackey, Lea Colombo, Black Koki, Ello, Michel Tymbios, Jean de Wet, Cashril, Lenny, Pink Ponk (Venezuela), Binho (Brazil), MYMO (Berlin), Mia Nolting (Portland), Nina Ansari (Berlin) and Adam Maynard (Portland).

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Attending We Are Beautiful Losers, this is exactly what you'll find - art ignoring convention, art being created right before you; you yourself are free to get creative with a box of crayons, meet and mingle with the artists, and jam to some live music.

"Everyone is an artist," says Gordon, "its the Peter Pan philosophy; sometimes it takes being silly to remind people."

It's a different experience if you're a Saturday night reveller and it's been attracting high crowd volumes since inception. The last party was themed Puppets and Pirates, and while very few went all-out on costumes, those who did not only won a prize, but also stood out from the crowd - which is pretty much what being a beautiful loser is all about.

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Hold onto your crayons

The band line-up featured Beach Party, Bateleur, Black Handed Kites, Beatenburg, Kongos and Taxi Violence. While I missed most of them, while either experiencing the art, mingling, or queuing.., I did manage to catch Kongos, who experienced some minor sound issues, but managed to "rock our f*$king faces off" eventually; and Taxi Violence, who always manage to live up to the latter part of their name, always causing havoc front and centre of the stage. We also got a taste of their new song "Love Sick Rock 'n Roll", which sounded pretty awesome. Their unplugged album, Long Way from Home, mellowed them out a bit, so I, for one, am looking forward to hearing more mosh-pit inducing material from Taxi Violence!

While Gordon is still mulling over hosting the show four times a year or as an annual festival, I'm certain it's set to grow by leaps and bounds. This new brow art form is recognised in South Africa with both street artist Faith47 and Gordon listed on the Mail & Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans in 2011 under the Arts & Culture category. Kids around the country can now safely hold onto their crayons - even when they reach adulthood.

For more on Ricky-lee Gordon and his projects, read his profile feature on http://10and5.com.