National Express is always a pain and it didn’t disappoint with a two-hour delay on our way to the nonpermanent Secret Wars All-Stars event in Birmingham. We finally arrived at midnight, just in time to hop in the back of a transit van to take us to our accommodation (who said the Secret Wars crew don’t travel in style?).
Our humble abode for the weekend was the new minimally designed NiteNite hotel just off Broad Street in the centre of the city. The rooms themselves take inspiration from the Japanese capsule, with a pod-like space consisting of a double bed, padded walls, 42in widescreen television and a walk-in shower. With no windows in any of the rooms, it was easy to lose track of time. The experience was a bit like being in a cave.
Although we travelled down on the Friday, the actual event was scheduled for Saturday night. The idea was to have a whole day of preparation alongside the nonpermanent team, Lunartik and Mr Whiteman.
The next morning we made our way to the Custard Factory, the creative hub of Birmingham. With its labyrinth of shops, galleries and tasty cafes, the Custard Factory was the perfect place to hold what was set to be the event of the month. The whole aim was to document the artwork through film and photography and then remove it, leaving only memories of the artists’ creations. The mantra of nonpermanent is to celebrate the moment art is formed. Even the crowd would get their chance to create some live art, when over 200 pens would be handed out at the end of the night, culminating in a big drawing frenzy.
As well as the chance to catch a glimpse of this newly invented, fast art, we were to witness history in the making. The Custard Factory was playing host to the first ever all-star edition of Secret Wars. Just like its big brother in London, this event would be set up in the traditional format with two artists drawing head to head within a 90-minute time frame, with both competitors using only the uniform black and white marker pens. What was special about this particular battle was that it would feature two of Britain’s creative greats, Pete Fowler and Jon Burgerman.
With over 300 guests arriving in the evening, there was a lot to do beforehand. The space itself was amazing and the effort the nonpermanent team had already contributed was admirable. Nearly every wall was plastered with at least a dozen empty golden picture frames, like walking into an unfinished exhibition space.
The first job was to set up the Posca pens for all the artists. Now we are not talking about just a few handfuls, but £3,000 worth. German sticker company, Cromatics, also came down to give a helping hand. It probably took the group about 45 minutes to blot all of the pens and then we had to move on to the biggest task of the day… the goody bags. Anyone who has been to one of Monorex’s Christmas dinner parties will know that the goody bags are pretty good, but nothing can compare to the goody bags for this event.
We all had the task of laying 300 plastic bags on the floor and then going round dropping one of each item on top. It took ages to walk round the maze of magazines, stickers, flyers, badges, fridge magnets and soft toys for the lucky guests who were invited from across the country.
About an hour or two later we made our way back to the hotel for a pre-arranged lunch to meet the artists taking part and have a nibble of some tasty Chinese takeaway before dashing back to the event in time for the opening.
The night kicked off with a handful of the current Secret Wars artists showing off their skills alongside the locally based Agent and Chu. The press loved the artwork, but this was only a warm-up for the Burgerman/Fowler friendly battle later in the evening. The venue was heaving with the crème de la crème of the creative world, including the British Arts Council, Leicestershire’s Ian Stevenson, London’s Clutter Magazine and Sheffield’s infamous Kid Acne.
Talking to Pete Fowler about the concept of events like nonpermanent Secret Wars, he had a very positive reaction: “I used to work for a company in Japan that did events similar to this. I really appreciate the whole concept of the crowd being given pens for their own chance to draw. There is a freedom to create, which is just like being at junior school. I like the fact that there are no rules to it.” Even Jon Burgerman, who described his style as “wibbly and wobbly”, felt honoured to be involved. “I am very humble and very honoured to be part of this. When I was younger, doodling was a much more nerdy thing, but now it is in the public domain it’s a cool thing,” he said. Hopefully we can look forward to many more Secret Wars events with the likes of these two talented guys.
Their styles, though both very quirky, looked rather sinister when viewed in Secret Wars black and white. Fowler, who described his most random location for a job as “Uri Geller’s house”, drew a gothic fairytale scene with long-haired fawn characters with horns playing a guitar. Burgerman explained that the highlight of his career so far would have to be “doing a computer game for Sony called Wipeout. I had all these 3D designers following my every instruction. I enjoy any project where people have faith in your own ideas. Any project like that is great.” His canvas stuck to his traditional character montage but in a much bolder style.
Next up was the public painting session with everyone given a chance to show off their own talents. Posca pens were handed out to the hungry crowds, giving them the opportunity to transform the gallery into one big sketchbook. With the battle over, an auction of the artists’ canvas soon followed, with two lucky bidders taking home Fowler and Burgerman’s art for a really good price (all proceeds of which went to the NSPCC). Once the canvases were sold, it was time for the crowd raffle where nearly everyone won something. Toys, T-shirts, magazines and artwork were all up for grabs and people weren’t shy about the fact that they wanted everything.
The highlight of the evening was the finale (just after Reeps One amazing performance), when Pete Fowler, Jon Burgerman and Monorex’s mastermind Terry Guy all received gifts of appreciation. The nonpermanent guys had made two amazing wrestling belts just for the two artists. Painted in gold, with pens attached, they were amazing to look at and the press lapped it up. Terry was next and to his surprise he received a giant golden picture frame medallion with Secret Wars emblazoned on the front. It looked totally cool and Terry was more than pleased to show it off.
With all the frolics coming to an end all that was left was to move on with the crowds to the after party at the Rainbow just up the road for a big booze-up. The night was a complete success, with both nonpermanent and Secret Wars ending on a real high. Let’s hope all the other tour dates pan out as smoothly. For further info please check www.nonpermanent.com and www.secretwars.co.uk
