Published

in

Art Battle: Inside Toronto’s underground painting tournaments


The canvas becomes a battleground in this live painting competition

A dirty canvas covered in splotches of paint with "Art Battle Toronto" written on it.
The Art Battle sign on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (Christian Malong/CanCulture Magazine)

By Christian Malong

This September, I went to check out Art Battle at The Great Hall on Queen Street West.

The venue was an old Victorian building. The entrance opened into a large, wide stairway with a reception desk at the front. Other visitors made small talk while we waited for them to scan our tickets. We were let into a room with a stage on one end, a bar on the other, and a raised island covered in easels. On either side of the easels were tables.

A photo of a chicken taped to an easel, along with a name tag that reads "Art Battle, Jessica Campbell."
Jessica Campbell copied this photo of a chicken. (Christian Malong/CanCulture Magazine)

As the audience trickled in, the first round of artists got to work, placing their supplies, squeezing paint on their palettes, and putting up reference images. One artist received a bouquet of flowers from people who came to see them.

Art Battle is a live painting competition where participating artists have 20 minutes to paint whatever they like. The audience votes on their favourite piece and the painter with the most votes wins. 

Alongside the painting competition, there are drinks and musical performances, and the newly created artwork goes on auction to Art Battle attendees.

A person playing a bass.
Patrick Merner (@patmakesmusic) performed alongside the live painting. (Christian Malong/CanCulture Magazine)

Every month, there is a new battle where winners will get to face off at the Toronto finals. The winner of the Toronto finals will then get to move on to the Canadian national championship to compete for the national title.

According to the website, Art Battle events first began in 2001 in New York City and were spearheaded by Sean Bono, one of Art Battle’s three co-founders. It wasn’t until 2009 that the Art Battle tournaments took off in Toronto, eventually expanding on a global scale.

The session I attended was the opening act for their 15th year in Toronto. 

Chris Pemberton, another co-founder, said he and the other co-founder, Simon Plashkes, wanted to create an event that had art, music and culture.

“The first time it went really well,” said Pemberton. “And so we did it a second time and a third time and a fourth time. And then after two years, we expanded to Vancouver, and then Halifax, then Ottawa and Montreal. And after that, to the States and across the world.”

A man with glasses speaking into a microphone.
Co-founder Chris Pemberton addresses the audience. (Christian Malong/CanCulture Magazine)

The hosts introduced themselves and the concept of Art Battle. Then, a countdown commenced and the artists went to work. They hastily began painting while the live music played.

  • A man painting
  • A painting of a hot air balloon.
  • A charcoal drawing of a face.

The rest of the crowd and I began circling the island of easels, and watching the artists. Some people grabbed drinks, while others took photos. Art Battle staff live-streamed the competition over social media. The hosts told the artists when they had ten minutes, then five minutes, then one. Afterwards, it was time to vote.

A man speaking into a microphone while a phone records him.
Behind the scenes of the Art Battle live stream. (Christian Malong/CanCulture Magazine)

The winner of the night was Olga Kholod, an artist from Kyiv. She was trained as a classical realist artist and developed an interest in art from childhood.

“I did it as a child and my mom saw me painting and drawing. I was nine years old and she bought adult drawing books which I did not read. I just copied paintings and I just never stopped,” says Kholod.

She won in the final round with a painting of trees reflected in a lake covered in lily pads. This was Kholod’s second win as an Art Battle competitor. Her painting of lily pads in a pond sold for $250.

A woman painting a picture of lily pads on a lake.
Olga Kholod puts the finishing touches on her winning painting. (Christian Malong/CanCulture Magazine)

“It feels euphoric, the first [Art Battle] I felt like my life peaked like it’s never going to be as good again,” she said.

“It’s exciting. I like the attention, but it’s attention not on me but on what I create. I think that makes it more special.”

Kholod added that she was just beginning to ease into Toronto’s art scene and that she wanted to participate in it and make more connections.

Pemberton said that the city has an excellent art scene, but sometimes you need to dig deep to find original and innovative works.

“Like in any city, the bigger galleries tend to play it safe and go with stuff that they know is marketable,” he said. “But in Toronto, there are so many little pockets of artists creating new stuff — festivals, showcases, turning an abandoned house into a piece of art. You’ve just got to keep your ear to the ground and you’ll find a lot of original stuff in Toronto.”

The next Art Battle will take place on Nov. 19.


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *