T'I’H' ‘lf. : 7 ’f h..- ‘
rest of the class.
The weird and wonderful mix of students. professionals. obliging partners and recovering prudes like me rabidly rubbed. smudged. scratched and etched at rolling sheets of paper. An 'imagine the birth” competition spawned a cracking selection of drawings featuring an assortment of mostly nautical-themed objects slipping out from between l’etit (‘hou (‘hou's legs. The ‘Anchor Baby“ drawing won first prize. with the wild card ‘Jesus’ drawing coming in a close second.
By far the most interesting aspect of the whole experience was not the beautiful models. but the fact that the audience just wanted to draw and draw and draw. Clearly. there is something inspirational about burlesque. It is certainly back in fashion. Across the water. and on these shores. Dita Von Teese has been pushing the neo- burlesque cause almost as hard as her .‘Vl.A.(‘ make—up campaign. Meanwhile. at a more local level. (‘lub Noir and Vegasl. which regularly feature glamorous. cheeky performances of a burlesque nature. continue to reign supreme over the central belt‘s clubbing scene. (‘rabapple suggests that this revival is inspired by the
powerful nostalgia for old-fashioned forms of
entertainment. ‘I grew up with a major Toulouse— l.autrec fantasy. and saw the burlesque revival as the resurrection of those Parisian can-can halls he sketched in.‘ she says.
Historically. American burlesque has taken a real kicking. The fact that the form was sidelined by the invention of the television set. and completely outlawed in New York in l93‘) only served to fuel its rebellious. underworld image. Accordingly. new burlesque is often viewed as a means of escape from the desensitised Hollywood gloss which saturates the American media. This echos the very origins of burlesque itself. which was partly conceived as a reaction to Victorian prudishness.
‘The Victorian era was a constrained. ruthless. socially stratified time that was nonetheless often unintentionally hilarious.‘ says ('rabapple. ‘I fell in love with the maximalist aesthetic. and I found the Victorian demimonde increasingly reflected in the brutal rat fight of New York.‘
(‘rabapple‘s cheeky illustrations are set in Victorian lingland and Rococo l‘rance. periods in which people strived to make their entire lives as artificial as a dancer's face. liull of bawdy
humour. sex and dirty jokes. (‘rabapple‘s works hang in the (‘oney Island Museum and the Museum of American lllustration.
'When I first started living on my own in New York. I was a broke. l8-year-old art student.‘ she says. ‘So I did what many an ambitious young trollop does. and started working in the naked girl industry.~
She continues: ‘livery aspect of this exchange is fake. You paint on fake facial features. You adopt a fake name and a fake derneanour and
make fake expressions and leave with photos of
an utterly false moment. l‘m not knocking it — art is at its bottom faker which is why so many religions distrust it. But. while sprawled across strangers‘ desks. 1 got to thinking about this pile- up of artifice that me and my friends engaged in. And I became deeply inspired by it.‘
The patrons of the (ilasgow class I attended drew similar inspiration from the performers. (ilasgow‘s l)r Sketchy's. the largest existing offshoot. marks a year of success this month. with a grand old party. Queen Bee Crabapple will perform alongside some of the UK‘s finest burlesque acts as well as San Franciscan cabaret
Dr Sketchy’s, created by New York artist Molly Crabapple (pictured, below left), has become a global phenomenon
sensation Kitten on the Keys.
Rufus T Fahrenheit. artistic director of Rhymes with Purple. the theatre company behind Glasgow‘s Sketchy‘s outlet. reflects upon the successful integration of this East Coast of America phenomenon into West Coast life. ‘Glaswegians love things that are new. exciting and interesting and they jump right on things that are arty. Also. Glasgow has a history of music hall and vaudeville; we‘re the place that created Harry Lauder and Stanley Baxter and I think people love that sense of cabaret.‘
Glasgow‘s Dr Sketchy's organisers have tapped into an artistic minefield here and their patrons are thriving. For me it was a cathartic experience. I confronted the pasty. naked ghosts of my past and came away smiling. while my companion raised her game from line drawings to shading and the class demonstrated a level of creativity and individuality unrivalled by any other Sunday aftemoon gathering.
Dr Sketchy’s, Arches, Glasgow, Sun 10 Aug, 4pm-7pm. The Birthday Party, follows from 7.30pm till midnight.
744 Aug 2008 THE LIST 13