See more photos in our slideshow.
PHOTO BY MARK BERRY
"Our models are the 'headliners' of our events," says Bob Self of Dr. Sketchy's.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER FABOS PATTON
Gallery Girls' Lichtenstein-themed workshop
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Glamorous gals in elaborate makeup and not much else pose provocatively for ogling patrons and then prance about in nothing but robes or less. A DJ pumps out an atmospheric selection of beats. Lighting, props and sensual energy fill the air. Onlookers sip wine and guzzle beer. As they watch the ladies, they scribble on paper. Class is in session.
Forget about clubs, bars, even loft parties — the most creative and colorful social scene these days isn't about dancing, it's about drawing. Figure or life drawing, as it is known. But the purveyors of these underground-style events are providing something wholly different from the academic environments seen inside art schools. Groups such as Dr. Sketchy, Gallery Girls, the Drawing Club and Drink & Draw all offer a place to gather and get your pencil on, not to mention your paint, pastels, even iPad art. The concept might not be new, but the proliferation of hip, new-school sketch soirees in recent years is having an effect on not only the art scene but nightlife, too.
Taking place in backrooms at gallery openings, clubs and bars and in animation and photo studios, these sketch events attract everyone from serious artists to art-minded scenesters, drinkers and fans of the human form.
"The idea was to re-create the feel of turn-of-the-century Paris," says Jennifer Fabos Patton, popular figure model and founder of Gallery Girls. "So many amazing artists and models used to meet and socialize and draw in cafés, nightclubs and bars. It was a dramatic and inspiring thing for everyone."
In 2003 Patton helped bring to life Hailie's Hadies, a sketcher gathering in a Pasadena bar, thrown by models for artists. A couple years later she and model Sara Streeter created Bedlam, a speakeasy-type happening downtown, which included models and a cluster of chairs for others to draw them, in a wild, hedonistic entertainment.
Patton's current company, Gallery Girls, was born out of both events in 2008. It's become a go-to provider for unique figure models at galleries (like Sketch Theatre, thrown by Gnoman School of Visual Effects in Hollywood), clubs (like Mr. Black and Dragonfly) and even competing sketch groups: Both Dr. Sketchy and Drink & Draw hire Patton and her girls to pose on occasion. Many clubs and galleries now hire the gals for atmosphere sans the sketch element.
Gallery Girls' own events are extremely popular as well, from its themed classes at Gallery Godo in Glendale and PoptArt Gallery (recent themes: '80s Liquid Sky looks, Roy Lichtenstein, Kabuki) to megaproductions such as Patton's "Turkish Delights" drawing salon, which is more like a bacchanal, with costumed and nude models, live music and belly dancers.
On a recent Sunday evening, a dozen or so men and women meet up in a desolate parking lot downtown, each toting large satchels filled with art supplies. One by one, they enter a rickety freight elevator, manned by a kind young fellow in a dog collar; he directs them down a long, white hallway. The building is a dingy manufacturing facility, but behind one door, a sleek black-and-white oasis called Studio Servitu awaits. The studio holds primarily fetishy art openings, sexy photo shoots and Dr. Sketchy events, and on this warm summer night, two models from the collective's German offshoot are in town for the latter.
As the sounds of Ministry and Marilyn Manson play in the background, one model removes her robe to do a topless pose ... a triple topless pose — she's wearing a third prosthetic breast. She then gets naked while donning a frog mask, and a male model slips into a full-body blow-up-doll costume complete with face mask and faux protruding penis. It's a pretty freaky scene, but no one in the room seems particularly shocked. In fact, the atmosphere is quite chill, with most patrons seated and seemingly focused on their work, looking up and down repeatedly as they re-create the image before them.
"Many people think of art as a passive thing, something you look at, and that's about it," says Bob Self, the gregarious ringmaster of Dr. Sketchy's Los Angeles, the organizer of this event. "I believe art is much more than something you hang on the wall. It's a lifestyle. It's show business. I strive to make our events socially interactive theater-in-the-round, fueled by creativity and enjoyed by those who want to experience the bohemian side of the art world."
Dr. Sketchy's was founded by an art-school dropout named Molly Crabapple in a dive bar in Brooklyn in 2005. The group has since accumulated more than 100 branches around the world. Crabapple proudly proclaimed her group an "anti-art school," and this kind of subversive sensibility seems to fuel the scene. Art schools tend to be pricey institutions with regimented curriculums, and — particularly when it comes to figure-drawing courses — a pretty staid setup. Models have traditionally been on the nondescript side — theoretically to give artists more of a blank canvas — and they definitely don't engage with the artists. Muse magic usually isn't part of the equation.
At Sketchy's and Gallery Girls — and to a lesser extent the Drawing Club — things are different. The guys and gals holding poses often have dramatic looks and body types. Models will walk around and admire the unique perspective on their likeness, even chat with the artists about it. Sketchy does a series of contests in which the model chooses the best drawings, which are awarded prizes — usually high-quality art books from Self's publishing company, Baby Tattoo Books.
