Photograph by Daniel de Sousa
This year’s 100 Minutes of Havana event saw the Monorex (the guys behind Secret Wars) and Intercity crews take on the Havana Club’s freestyle drawing challenge. No sketches, no plans, just Edding pens, coloured acrylics and 100 minutes to fill a 16ft high by 40ft wide white wall. This was the first Secret Wars to use coloured inks, so expectations were high…
In my opinion, the Monorex selected crew of artists had Intercity’s illustrator gang running for the hills from the moment the timer started – the timer being a snazzy event logo which dropped a segment for every minute passed. It was clear the two teams of five came from very different backgrounds; one guy I got talking to (an illustration student at Camberwell College of Arts ) even said that the Intercity lot drew like they had had some sort of illustration training.
I personally preferred the more intricate yet huge characters that Monorex produced, and thought that they used the space better. Intercity began their piece by making a huge red circle (making good use of a piece of string and drawing pin!) which they then filled with smaller drawings that looked like inane doodles compared to the massive pieces from their rivals. At the end of the 100 minutes, Intercity launched paint filled water balloons at the wall which the crowd really enjoyed.
For me, Mr K’s bear was the best thing on the entire wall. Other people that took part in the event included Jimi Crayon, Teck 1 and Robbie Wilkinson. As the 100 segments continued to disappear, the crowds feasted their eyes upon the decreasingly white wall, and sipped on mojitos and Cuba Libre cocktails – made with Havana Club rum – obviously – and listened to upbeat latin flavoured electro.
The winners were eventually decided by the crowd (using a decibel reader). So congratulations to Monorex, who were rewarded with mixed cases of Havana Club.
Photograph by Daniel de Sousa
Photograph by Daniel de Sousa
Photograph by Daniel de Sousa
Photograph by Daniel de Sousa
Photograph by Daniel de Sousa
