With C2E2 happening last weekend I took my time to steer away from the drama surrounding its owners ,ReedPop, and instead decided to focus on the people building communities locally. The ones who use the venue to create safe spaces and explore how they can better their neighborhood. So this is the second of three interviews I like to call: Keeping C2E2 Local.
Darick Maasen and Josh Rogers are the founders of a figure drawing collective called the Grotesque Burlesque where every Wednesday, the two organize a 2 hour figure drawing session with a model. It’s free to join but donations are welcome, and over the last 13 years the group have amassed a fantastic community of artists with the goal of having fun and connecting through their love of drawing.
They can be found on Instagram @grotesqueburlesque.
Hi, I'm Alex Orona with Third Coast Review, and here we have... Darick Maasen. And Josh Rogers here and you guys are with the grotesque burlesque which is a We've got a line drawing group.
Darick Maasen: It's a figure drawing group that we started about 13 years ago here in Chicago.
So what inspired this group for you guys?
JR: Well, so Darick and I have been kind of acquaintances for, I don't know, six or seven months, and we kept talking about how we miss figure drawing. And at some point we were like, let's just set a date and get a fucking model. Wait, can we curse on this? Okay, that's fine. kept happening every week ever since then. We met in my living room initially until we outgrew that and then ended up going into a burlesque run speakeasy, speakeasy kind of club for a little while. And then, um, We've been in a couple of different spaces and now C2E2.
DM: yeah, yeah, we uh, we decided we'd meet meet weekly because it was just a fun time to hang out with our friends and, like you said, the community kept growing and we knew so many models from the burlesque community that's part part of the reason our name is Grotesque Burlesque. Yeah, it just kept going and growing. And artists spend a lot of time by themselves. So we thought this is a great way for people to get out of the house and make some connection. Our goal was, though, to not be very academic. There's a lot of really great figure drawing clubs in Chicago. that are very quiet and you need to be of a certain skill level or whatever to attend and that's just not our vibe. We play music, we talk. It's as much of a social club as it is a figure drawing group.
JR: At best, it's about half figure drawing and half social/community. It really helped through COVID as well.
DM: There was somebody that once reviewed our group and said that we are not a serious figure drawing group and I think they meant that as a dig, but I couldn't be more complimented. I almost want to put that on all of our advertisements from now on. Not a serious figure drawing group.
JR: Or draw butts with friends. Yeah, that's a good one.
Well, I mean, then again, you've grown this group, right? It was kind of like an anybody group. How did it start? It was just you two, but then, was it word of mouth, inviting people?
DM: Yeah, it's 100% word of mouth. It was just him and I, and then we would have a friend of ours pose, and we'd give them a little bit of money, and then... We'd be talking. Both of us are friends with a lot of artists, so we talk to them. They go, 'I want to come.' They'll be like, 'Great, help us split the cost of the model.' And then before you know it, there's 10 people in the room and then 15 people and then 20. And then we don't fit in his apartment anymore.
JR: 20 was the most. With art supplies, 20 is the max in my living room.
Wow, okay. It's all word of mouth. And then, as far as models, you pay the models, they come over, they just hang out, and you guys now have a space?
DM: Yeah, so... like Josh said, eventually graduated into like a real space and then we started needing to figure out, you know, a space where more people could be there. So that's what we've done. Over the years, we've moved to several spaces and right now we're in a place called Hidden Light Tattoo which is in Ravenswood. And we absolutely love it. It's a really great giant tattoo space, but it's high ceilings and lots of light. And we absolutely love it.
And as far as you guys, has this brought you guys closer together?
JR: As friends? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we’ve worked together really well. We found out that we were very compatible in figuring out logistics and stuff. So it's been really easy to kind of like, we have a whole team actually that helps us run this. It was too complicated. You get into some weird situations over the years with bad venues or like...So we have a team of about six right now, and it's kind of a committee rule. We're kind of the founders, but it's a group effort. And it's been kind of key to keeping this thing going for so long. Yeah.
DM: Definitely outside of us too, the group has made connections within itself. You know, splinter groups have come off. There's been karaoke groups that have come off of this, and other kinds of smaller get-together groups that have become genuine friends. In fact, now that we've been around for 13 years, there's so many people that are in GB that realize that their closest friends— the people they hang out with on a regular basis— they can trace back to going to GB sessions and kind of building these sort of you know, I mean, enduring friendships that have been now 10 years plus. There's always new people coming. Making new connections with other people, like I think Josh and I both agree that this is bigger than us now. It's 100% not even really our thing. If him and I stopped tomorrow, it would keep going.
And it's all free, you know, donations, obviously, but you guys have been doing it for a long time.
JR: This is free, but the sessions themselves are like suggested donations, but we'd rather have people come and draw it.
Well, it's really just about the community for you guys, right?
DM: We've never made a dime on this and never will. The money that comes in from people coming to the sessions goes back to paying the models, paying our rent. And then, if we get enough— stacked up— we will do stuff like we've done: outings, we've gone to museums, and invited the members to come. We'll cover passes like whatever we can do to kind of again build community—literally, I think we're trying to do.
JR: Pizza parties for Halloween.
DM: Yeah. We do every Halloween. We do a session where there is no model that people come in costume and we take turns modeling for each other and we buy pizza for that. So, I mean, it's that kind of group. We're always trying to figure out a way to just have a little bit of a cushion so that we can take care of our members, and then, during the dead of winter, when we have a session and nobody shows up, it's fine. We can still pay our rent. We can still pay the model. That's the kind of stuff we want to have.
That's very cool. That's cool. And then, you guys, it's just like a grassroots movement. You guys have had to continue figure drawing as a free form for anybody. It's really inclusive and just open-ended in general. Yeah. And you guys are very open as far as your models as well.
DM:Yeah, our models are literally anybody we've had first time. We've had professionals, people from the kink community, the cosplay community. You name it. Anybody who wants to be drawn. There's really no line or type of person we wouldn't accept. So we have an open model form on our link tree through Instagram.If you're a model out there, or even if you're not, you're just somebody who's interested in being drawn, submit an application form. We'll eventually have you come model for us. And we feel the same way about our artists. There's no vetting process. You do not need to be a quote unquote artist to come. If you come and sit and draw, you're welcome to one of our sessions and we'd love to have you. We have professional comic book artists on down to like retired people who've never drawn in their entire life. I just want to come and be around people and draw as long as you're fine and you're cool. You don't mind a little bit of banter and some music? Then you're welcome to our sessions.
JR: I would actually also say that we're kind of known for the variety of models that we have— like it doesn't matter gender, body type, like any of that stuff, like we have everyone. And they're always fantastic. Yeah, fabulous. We have the best models. We don't push anything. Some of our sessions are 100% nude models. Some of them are 100% costume. Some of them are mix. Like you said, all body types, genders, everything. We actually love the variety. We push out every week on our Instagram who's coming and people kind of decide if they're coming. Based on a lot of things, what's going on in their life, if they're interested in that particular model or whatever. But I honestly think we have the best models. And at this point, I don't even know how many models we've had. We've pushed to have a wide variety. We rarely reschedule the same model twice in a year. So we've probably had... I mean, definitely hundreds, maybe a thousand or more models come through. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. I am trying to do the math. 50ish weeks.
How many models do you have per session? How long is each session?
DM: Our weekly sessions go from 7:30 to 10 p. m. It's one model. Sometimes there'll be two models in one session that are together, like as a group but that's how we do it. So in a given year, we have probably about... anywhere from 50 to 60 models, depending on how many double up.
Oh, very cool, very cool. And you guys are located where?
DM: We're in Ravenswood at Hidden Light Tattoo. And you can come by there. If you show up between 7:30 and 10 on a Wednesday, you'll see our sign out front. And you can just step right in, sit down and draw with us. And like we said, if you can throw us 20 or 5 or anything for being there, it only helps us keep going.
And then where can people find you guys? You said Instagram, right?
JR: at grotesque burlesque on Instagram, I think we have a blue sky too.
Thank you. All right, well, thank you guys.
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