With the final only a matter of weeks away, the crowds turned up in droves for the Secret Wars semi final between Gustav Balderdash and Teck 1. Juno bar was all set for the night, having had a pre semi final Secret Wars revamp on the walls. The whole venue is plastered with black and white spray from various artists who either have been or possibly will be Secret wars entrants in the future.
It all looks very well put together and just syncs the battle to the venue even more. The night was to see a slight change from the regular formula with only two artists stepping out in front of the crowds. With obviously half a wall extra to fill for each contender, the battle would be rendered a much harder task to pull off. Because of the extra space the artists had an extended time of 120 minutes to finish their piece, rather than the usual 90. Pens a ready and with the timer set the battle could begin. As anyone who has ever witnessed any of the tournaments will know, it is impossible to decide on a favourite contender till the end of each battle. It is only when you have the whole finished piece n front of you that you can really judge the artists technique and planning.
From the offset it was clear that the two artists had totally different artistic approaches. Gustav Balderdash immediately got down to his sketch filling a small amount of space with what looked like the start of a human shaped character. Teck 1 on the other hand started with a sketch that filled the whole space, followed by a quick dash up the ladder to adorn the surface with black paint, reminiscent of his first battle against Fybe back in September of last year.With each of the pieces taking shape, it was easy to see the different use of space between the two artists. Gustav had drawn a fierce wrestler character wearing a mask and the words “El Nino” engraved on its teeth. The wrestler, whilst holding two plugs had robot like arm extensions protruding from its wrists giving the impression that this character was powering something robotic.
This little detail may have been a slight dig towards Teck 1’s famous robot character. Teck 1 as always kept the battle theme alive with a cleverly thought out plan to attack Gustav’s crew, The Undergrowth by composing a piece of a country scene with a granny mowing down the lawn. Included were the slogans, “Mown Down” and “The Undergrowth”. Once the timer announced the battles end, the judges Hugo from Daydream magazine and Andreas from German sticker company Cromatics had to climb the ladder and cast their vote. After a five minute long explanation from Andreas, he voted for Teck 1, leaving the next vote down to the crowds.
With an 118 decibel Secret Wars record high reading on the clap meter, and to the surprise of many of the crowd (especially the Teck 1 fan who had turned up with a mega phone in hand) Gustav Balderdash won the vote. It was all up to Daydream’s Hugo to determine the fate of each artist by casting his deciding vote. With all eyes and cameras facing the front, Hugo announced that the winner of the first semi final was … Teck 1.Congratulations to both lads who done well to get so far. Who will join Teck in the live grand final? Why not come on down to Juno bar on March the 8th to find out.
written by Gabriella Weekes (Nani?)http://nanilondon.blogspot.com/
Check www.secretwars.co.uk for more details.
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