Poetry, art and”¦wrestlers? Balboa Park’s Museum of the Living Artist will present art aficionados with something unexpected during this quarter’s Art and Poetry gathering. In a compilation of visual art, prose, poetry and piledrivers, the featured artists for this event are actually masked wrestlers. It’s laughable, it’s ludicrous, it’s Luchador Poetry and Art.
Michael Klam, Ocean Beach resident and event coordinator for the Museum of the Living Artist, organized the affair to engage creative minds in a variety of settings.
“This gives the public an opportunity to be seen and heard,” Klam said.
Hosting the spectacle are Victor Payan and Sandra Pocha Peãa, creators and producers of Aztec Gold TV. Together they have assembled a kind of artistic phenomenon they call Rudos y Técnicos: An Aztec Gold Extravaganza.
“The term ‘técnicos’ refers to wresters that play by the rules. ‘Rudos,’ on the other hand, refers to those wrestlers that get crowds roaring by breaking all the rules,” Klam said. “Inside of everyone there is a little rudo and técnico. This is less of the wrestling buffoonery and more of a cross-fertilization of creative movement and art.”
Payan and Peãa will interrupt the action to show video clips of Aztec Gold’s hilarious personality, Lou Chalibre. Always masked and ready to rock, Chalibre’s interviews with the media industry’s brightest musicians, comedians, filmmakers and artists “” including Jack Black, recently recognized for his role in the film “Nacho Libre” “” invariably broach world issues such as immigration, gender identity and community versus corporation.
“Lou Chalibre has a natural ability to work with an audience,” Klam said. “[He] really addresses all issues and gets the audience interested and involved.”
In a literal blend of art and wrestling, Rudos and Técnicos wrestlers will battle in a ring of blank canvases, paint brushes in hand for a “ferocious painting smackdown.”
“One of my responsibilities here is to make sure that nothing in the museum is destroyed,” Klam said. “I am anxious to see how this will work, and a little nervous, I suppose. But it is definitely going to be fun.”
Additionally, audience members will have the chance to create a “Lucha-novela.” Gags and giggles will fill the room when this outrageous improvisational skit hits the stage. Expert saxophone player Zuri Waters will fill the gaps between performances.
The event will also feature Ocean Beach’s own pointillist painter, Ted Washington. His performance collective, Pruitt Igoe, is a unique collaboration of spoken word, techno and opera. The collective is unusual but distinctive. Klam said that the opera vocalist adds an inimitable touch to the performance that truly pulls a room together.
The Luchador Poetry and Art exhibit will take place Wednesday, Aug. 16, at the Museum of the Living Artist, San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park, 1439 El Prado. It will run from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. The cost is $5 and all proceeds go directly to the performers. Art and Poetry night is never complete without open mic, for which sign-ups begin at 6 p.m.