18th Annual Living Art Expo

October 26, 2018

18th Annual Living Art Expo

 For almost two decades, the Sunset Pier at the Ocean Key House has hosted another of the most popular and unique Fantasy Fest events, the Living Art Expo, which celebrates the human body as a canvas for some of the most talented airbrush artists in America who make their way to Key West each year during Fantasy Fest. This competition celebrates the creativity of these artists and their canvases who compete in various categories for cash prizes each year in this competition. 

 

 

Contestants from all over enter either as single entries, in both men’s and women’s categories as well as best group and best overall. It is a highly competitive and interesting competition which is taken quite seriously by both the artists and the human canvases. This marks the third or fourth year that I have photographed the event as an official photographer and it truly is amazing to see the creations of these talented artists.

 

 

Of course the canvases are not bad either as some truly beautiful and fun people enter every year. As with some of the other events that I cover, I get to hang out in the VIP area before and during the prolonged competition, which gives me access to not only free food and drinks but also an opportunity to meet and speak with most of the contestants.

 

Perhaps my favorite were a group of senior citizens who travel to Key West every year for Fantasy Fest and who had the name of this year’s themes written out across their collective chests. They represent all that is fun about Fantasy Fest, as they come to Fantasy Fest every year and enter this contest, not because they are shameless weirdos, but because they truly enjoy it and could care a less what anyone else thinks as they are having a blast. They told me that the vast majority of their friends in the retirement community were probably at home watching TV or else had gone to bed hours earlier and would not be caught dead doing such a thing, yet were at the same time secretly jealous. 

Wanting to squeeze every drop of fun and joy out of life is what this competition is about. While it is an adult event, it is really about the artistic creativity and not just some naked people covered with a thin layer of bodypaint. As with many of these competitions, the contest itself drags out over a few hours and I was not around to see who the ultimate winner was, but there were a number of worthy entries. 

 

My only complaint about the event is that it is held late on Friday night and I was pretty much exhausted before I even arrived at the Ocean Key House. Perhaps one of the reasons for my exhaustion was my crazy busy schedule in the preceding days which included covering another R-rated event during the afternoon of the previous day, Dante’s Halos and Horns pool party.

 

Celebrating its 12^th anniversary this year, the Halos and Horns party has become a staple of Fantasy Fest week and certainly the biggest and most attended of the many pool parties that are held throughout the week. The entire Dante’s complex and large pool are jammed packed with scantily clad devils and angels. The six hour long party features bodypainting, food and drinks and a couple of contests including a pole dancing competition and a wet t-shirt contest, both of which get too risqué to post photos of.

People seem to enjoy it and certainly people enjoy seeing others and being seen, it is sort of an exhibitionist free for all by the time it starts to wind down, which is about the time I head to the exit. Personally I don’t get it, it is far too crowded and sort of nasty and there is no freaking way I would get in that water, but many people seem to love it.

Chacka

 

I think the majority of the crowd are tourists but I always run in to a few curious locals, mostly just taking in the scene which is actually sort of remarkable to see. It does a great business for Dante’s and their staff and as I said the packed house of people in attendance seem to be having the time of their lives. I never stay around for the actual contests, but I know they tend to get pretty raunchy, which is I guess part of the attraction for a lot of those in attendance. 

Of the two events covered in this blog, I much prefer the Living Art competition as it has a creative and artistic aspect to it, the pool party is more along the lines of what I thought was the wrong direction for Fantasy Fest, but at least it is self-contained at a private business which is the way these more risqué parties should be, rather than out in the open on Duval Street.

http://danteskeywest.com/