Art Fusion
Tattoo Rendezvous Art Fusion 2008 Contributing Artists: Cortney Fettinger, Chuck Housholder, Mike Martin, The GYPSY
Marvin's Motorcycle Art Fusion Contributing Artists: J.A. George and D. Kay Oil on 11" x 14" Canvas Board
The GYPSY’s Art Fusion gets it’s inspiration from Tattoo Master Paul Booth’s ArtFusion Experiment. The ArtFusion Experiment was a global movement within the tattoo industry that was based in collaborative artistry. The ArtFusion Experiment found its beginnings in 2000, on the Tattoo the Earth festival, hosted by Paul Booth. The project also found huge success in larger arenas on the Tattoo the Earth tour in 2002, which visited the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL and the Oakland Coliseum, CA. Attending artists performed their visual collaborations for thousands of spectators across the United States.
Artists working together” was the basis for The ArtFusion Experiment and is the foundation for Art Fusion. This teaching and presentation device rooted in collaborative artwork incorporates the skill of artists. The attending artists collective skills combine to produce some extremely edgy and technically superb works of collaborative art. Each collaboration is a constant reformation of art that evolves before the artist; to see one Art Fusion composition eventually stand alone to speak for many talented artists is to understand why this artwork is unique.
In 2008 The GYPSY was a guest artist at the Alliance of Professional Tattooists Tattoo Rendezvous in Kansas City, Missouri. During the convention he was invited to take part in an ArtFusion Experiment. The experience left a lasting impression on him. The GYPSY reasoned that if a group of Tattoo Artists could come together to create collaborative art then why couldn’t traditional Visual Artists? Thus was born The GYPSY’s version of Paul Booth’s Art Fusion Experiment with the simplified name of Art Fusion.
The GYPSY teaches art classes to several different age groups at Independence Community College of Independence, Kansas. The name of these classes is “Art Fusion” and the structure is education in different media and styles of Visual Art, a ”Fusion” of artistic expression. One highlight of the class will be the opportunity for each student to share in the creation of a work of art made up of different media and the students individual styles. These “Art Fusion” works will be exhibited at an Art Fusion Show where they will be auctioned off to help fund the “Art Fusion” education project.