In 1989, the activist artist group Gorilla Girls ran ads on New York City buses that read: “Do Women Have to be Naked to Get Into the Met. Museum?” The posters were made after the Gorilla Girls visited the museum and compared the number of women artists on display (less than 5 per cent) to the number of naked bodies in works of art that were female (85 per cent). When they recounted in 2012, the numbers had changed, but only marginally — a reminder that the male gaze, a term coined by British film theorist Laura Mulvey, persists.
A little closer to home, at EVO, a gay bar on Jasper Avenue, a casual night of drinking and life drawing is flipping the script — or at least expanding it. Hosted by art enthusiast and barista Curtis West, Drink and Draw is an evening of live figure drawing where artists from all skill levels, genders and orientations are welcome and the models — at least so far — are all men.
During the pandemic, West and a friend participated in a similar event online. “They’d hire a model, advertise who the model was and you’d pay to do a Zoom session,” he recalls. Before long, he thought about ways to do something similar in Edmonton. He approached Evolution, a downtown gay bar, to host the event, and started promoting it. The first Drink & Draw, held on October 24th, 2024, was sold out nearly two weeks in advance.
And the popularity has held. Since the first event, West has hosted a monthly Drink and Draw, nearly all of which have sold out. He acknowledges the potential voyeurism involved as a factor for its success, but says they also have a number of professional artists who come regularly for the opportunity to draw live models. Some have even returned to model.
When West isn’t sourcing his models from his pool of artists, he recruits volunteers and models though an open submission by email.
The evening is more casual than traditional figure drawing classes. The models never hold a pose for longer than twenty minutes, and full nudity is optional (though many choose to bare all). All models are paid but West says that one of the biggest perks for the models is getting to see the work they inspired. “They get to see this beautiful artwork that’s made about them, from 40 different people.”
One of West’s goals is to highlight the diversity in Edmonton’s queer community, something he hopes his models reflect (Drink and Draw is open to models from all backgrounds and body types). But that diversity is already apparent in his audience. “I’d say it’s about one third men, one third women, and one third non-binary,” West says. It’s a ratio the Gorilla Girls could probably get behind.
Get your tickets to monthly Drink and Draw events at EVO (11508 Jasper Ave, Edmonton).
