Artopia 2008

My First Artopia

I haven’t been to Artopias from years past, so this was my first. I have nothing to compare to, and here are my thoughts on it:

Artopia was long on crowds, booze, food, performance art, neverending/everywhere/unremarkable fashion shows, and not-so-thrilling recorded music, and short on visual art, like, say, photography, sculpture or paintings. Traditional visual art seemed like an afterthought pushed to the side on the second floor to make way for the bars and booze sample vendors.

The word Artopia conjured mental scenes of – among other types of art – a strong contingent of photographers, painters and sculptors standing proudly by their works, answering questions and graciously accepting praise. Maybe even making sales. But hey that’s just me, and I know the word art has a different definition for everyone. I’m admittedly biased toward these visual media. (Disclosure: I’m a fine art and commercial photographer.)

Artopia Accolades

It was fun, and that’s probably the bottom line. The performance art was very good, and included a fire-juggler, trapeze artist, ad-hoc breakdancing and a really good indie string/keyboard band (I’ll get the name). The venues were very good, Vinyl being the best of the two with its excellent rooftop. People watching was very good. Westword says proceeds benefit a local charity, but details on which exactly I can’t find.

Also, there was a complete absence of host-and-sponsor name bludgeoning by Westword. Thanks for that, Westword.

>>> See Artopia photos here <<<