Exhibitionists·Video

Spend a summer day making a beautiful mess with the internet's favourite spin artist

Callen Schaub brings his skills out of the studio and into our art-making space at the CBC Music Festival.

Callen Schaub brings his skills out of the studio and into our art-making space at the CBC Music Festival

(CBC Arts)

You might remember Callen Schaub's work from the CBC Arts feed way back in 2017, when we showcased his spinning and splashing way of creating paintings. Now, a year later, he's taken his work out of the studio, all the way to a live performance at an event that engages the audience in his process: the CBC Music Festival.

Schaub calls his traveling studio "the arena," and it includes all his spin painting gear — his spin machine, his bicycle and his swinging trough, along with cups of glitter he hands out to some very eager participants. And doing these sorts of live painting sessions have helped the artist discover that in his work, the "event" can be as important as the end result. Schaub likens his finished products to snapshots, a recording of his making of the painting. So having people experience the process and witness the piece coming to life can be an integral component of his work.

Watch the video:

Callen Schaub at CBC Music Festival

6 years ago
Duration 3:59
Callen Schaub lets the audience in on his (very messy) painting process at CBC Music Festival.

In this video, you get to sit in on the whole experience, while Schaub not only creates his dynamic work in public but lets us in on some of the issues that come with making abstract paintings — like "when do you stop?"

Schaub hopes to continue touring his live painting around the world and use it to inspire others, especially youth. You can follow him here and see him perform in his new exhibition, Unfazed, at Joseph Gross Gallery in Los Angeles, California, July 21.

(CBC Arts)
(CBC Arts)
(CBC Arts)
(CBC Arts)
(CBC Arts)

Watch CBC Arts: Exhibitionists on Friday nights at 11:30pm (12am NT) and Sundays at 3:30pm (4pm NT) on CBC Television.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Priscilla Galvez is a Toronto-based Producer and Director. Most recently, she produced the BravoFACT short film The Emissary and is currently in post-production on a sci-fi action short The Drop In for Bell Media. Priscilla is in development on the web-series Off Kilter with director Alejandro Alvarez Cadilla as well as directing and co-writing the short film Wolf Alice, based on the short story by Angela Carter. Jeff Pavlopoulos is a Toronto-based writer, director and cinematographer striving to encounter the unfamiliar in the everyday. He is currently developing a short series, Secret Chiefs, about the invisible ties that bind us to one another, and the hidden, sometimes dangerous world that exists all around us.