What do you get when you take eight local illustrators, throw in some improv-style audience participation, and add a panel of three art-savvy judges? You get Savannah’s first ever Lucha Libre-themed art competition where the winner not only takes home arm loads of art supplies, but more importantly, wins the coveted hand-crocheted championship belt of greatness.
On Saturday, July 13, Latin/ Hispanic/Indigenous art collective SOY X SOY (pronounced soy como soy, “I am who I am”) teams up with Starland Yard to present “Art Rumble,” an art battle in seven rounds. The evening begins at 5 p.m. with DJ Jose Ray setting the mood and craft brew “Senor Delicioso” on tap from Service Brewing. Clinton Edminster, Rob Hessler and Madai Rodriquez judge each round.
Artist and SOY X SOY collective member, Tafy LaPlanche, organized the event after having simmered on an idea she’d gleaned years earlier at a science fiction and fantasy convention in Atlanta.
“In 2014 I went to Dragon Con and saw a session listed for ‘Cyanide and Happiness,’ this online comic I really like,” recalled LaPlanche. “They were putting on an art fight, 30 minutes of comic artists drawing responses to the audience shouting out ideas. Each artist would draw a quick comic narrative based on what was called out.”