A trio of local artists will be battling it out against each other and the clock to produce the best piece of work at Aurora Town Park on Aug. 14.
Put on by Rosa Calabrese, owner of Royal Rose Art Gallery, and the Town of Aurora, the contests see three local painters producing a painting in two hours, with the winner awarded a cash prize and bragging rights over fellow artists.
Georgina painter Andrea MacLeod is the defending champion, having won the inaugural event at Aurora Town Park during the Hotel California Eagles tribute show on July 17.
MacLeod has competed in versions of “art battles” in Toronto, a series of contests that tour throughout cities across North America. In the Toronto event, MacLeod had 20 minutes to complete her piece, saying that the whole concept is “thrilling but also terrifying.”
“So I shared that experience with (Calabrese), how thrilling it was and at certain moments it was also terrifying because there was such a huge crowd, and you only have 20 minutes to complete a painting, which is really outside of my usual methodology,” she said. “I usually take quite some time.”
The event in Aurora has a longer time limit, encouraging residents to ask questions of the artists and see how their work progresses during the contest. At the end of the event, the crowd can vote for the winner.
Back in July, MacLeod came out victorious for her brightly coloured fox painting, playing on her style of “spontaneous realism.”
Calabrese said the inaugural event received rave reviews from residents, adding she plans to host similar events, tentatively titled The Royal Art Rumble, in the fall at the Royal Rose Art Gallery on Yonge Street.
Another art contest is being held on Wednesday, Aug. 14, with MacLeod set to try and defend her crown against Aurora painters Jun Wang and Sanaz Panahpour Darehshouri.
The event will be held at Aurora Town Park at the same time as Pearl Jamming: Tribute to Pearl Jam will be playing as part of the town's Concerts in the Park Series, running from 7 to 9 p.m.
