The Rhythm of Art

Performance rock ‘n’ roll artist takes paint and canvas to the clubs

Combining his passion for painting with a love for music, 22-year-old David Garibaldi pushes the envelope of performance art with portraits he completes in mere minutes.  Standing front and center before a confused crowd of nightclub patrons, he pauses for a moment before a 6-foot-tall piece of blank canvas. Suddenly, Garibaldi is a man in motion.

 

With paint flying, arms flailing and booty shaking, he produces a piece of work that's ready to take home in the time it takes for the club's deejay to finish playing the latest single from Missy Elliott.  "It's crazy how people react to it," Garibaldi said Tuesday by phone from his home in Sacramento, Calif. "I'm not the first person to do it, but I want to be the first person to take it to a level it's never been to before."

 

THREE YEARS ago, Garibaldi held a variety of odd jobs while trying to figure out the direction he wanted to take with his life. He realized his love for art after taking a digital animation class in high school, but it was the work of the late Denny Dent that inspired him to speed things up and inject a performance aspect to his craft.

 

"At the time, I was doing smaller paintings in nightclubs over the course of a few hours," he said. After discovering how Dent's "Two-Fisted Art Attack" shifted the focus from a finished painting to the process of creating it, Garibaldi realized that he wanted to be the rock 'n' roll painter of his generation.  "I used to be in a hip-hop dance group, and I always loved to entertain," said Garibaldi. "I look at it as the survival of the fittest. ... You have to evolve with your surroundings and learn how to survive if you're going to make it."

Although he had never met Dent or attended one of his performances before his death in 2004, Garibaldi doesn't hesitate in giving him credit for the success he's enjoyed since adopting a similar style. He's also quick to point out how his art can affect those who normally wouldn't step foot in a traditional museum or gallery.

 

"A nightclub isn't an ideal setting for art, but bringing it to a crowd when they least expect it is when they get the most inspired," he said. "I could do a bowl of fruit, but I don't think the audience would connect with it as much as a portrait set to music."  Those who attend Saturday's performance at the O Lounge will experience something that's part rock concert, part motivational speech and completely different from any other art installation to take place in a local club environment.

 

"It's about getting the crowd involved and getting them to have a good time," said Garibaldi.

 

Over the course of about an hour, he'll create four different celebrity portraits. Previous "Rhythm and Hue" stops have yielded paintings of artists like Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes and Lauryn Hill. Other subjects have included Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Miles Davis and Beethoven.

Between songs, Garibaldi will address the crowd and share the impact that art has had on his life and why it's important to keep pursuing your goals.

 

"I come out with things to talk about," he said. "It breaks things up and gets the crowd a little more excited about my paintings."  Afterward, three of the completed portraits will be available for purchase. One will be given away as a prize to someone in the crowd. Garibaldi expects to fetch prices of $600 to $2,000 for his finished work.

 

"Honestly, they're going to go quick," he said. "The reason why they're so distinctive is because, for portraits, they're entertaining. I don't just show up and paint ... I'm trying to change it up."