Rich Potter’s Cirkus in Quarantine- a book of live cirkus art.
Rich Potter’s Cirkus in Quarantine book is available to order on Indie-GoGo. See below for link
During the pandemic last year, the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus did an online variety show on Mondays that featured hundreds of performers entertaining thousands of people.
I did one of the early ones (performing my puppet show The Barbie Oedipus , in which I tell the story of Oedipus Rex in 12 minutes (and for that show I got it down to under 10). It was great to share the virtual stage with people I had never met, and probably would never be able to share the stage with due to geography. And just to do something creative during that unprecedented time.
Rich Potter with one of the tools of his trade (but not the one he draws with)
Circus clown and friend (and fantastic cartoonist/visual artist) Rich Potter was doing something very creative as well– he documented nearly every one of the shows (including the ones he performed in) with a live art painting. During each show, Rich would watch the live stream and start drawing all of the performers. Rich would also livestream his work, so fans and friends (and performers) could check in and see how the drawing was going. At the end of the night (or sometimes early the next morning) Rich would have created a single artwork that showed snippets of all of the performers that night.
It was fascinating to see him work, and I would sometimes even tune in to shows I hadn’t seen, just to see how he portrayed the artists.
CIRKUS IN QUARANTINE – LIVE ART IN BOOK FORM
Rich has put all of those drawings together into a book, which is now available to be backed on Indie-Gogo. The book features 48 of the shows he drew over the time that the virtual variety show was going on.
Here are two samples of his work. (I’m in the second one, holding up my Barbie dolls!)
He’s already funded the project 112%, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind printing up some extra books, if you would like to own one. (He also offers a PDF for those who are living the digital nomad lifestyle. That’s the one I’m getting, as shipping stuff to Barcelona is flat out expensive.)
Rich Potter with some of the tools of his trade. This photo (taken from his facebook page) is dated March 10, 2020, the day before the lockdowns started in earnest.
For an additional perk, he’s also selling some of the original artwork that he created for the project. I’m very tempted! (But see previous geographic problem)
The project closes on October 19, so make sure to get your book now, before you lose your chance!
To get in on the action, visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cirkus-in-quarantine-a-book-of-live-art
You can find out more about Rich at http://www.richpotter.com
And find out more about the Bindlestiffs at http://www.bindlestiff.org