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Coldplay's Chris Martin got it right when he said, "Yeah they were all yellow," in the fittingly-titled song, "Yellow." That is the best way to describe the Yellow Art Show and Performance Showcase last Friday at the Crux Artist Collective.
The open-entry art show featured about 80 submissions and 10 performances. Entries could be literally or figuratively "yellow." Everything from photographs to paintings, felted wool and even yellow arrows shot straight into the wall were on display.
One piece was a canvas wrapped in burlap with the word "coward" written on it in pencil. Another piece featured a painted yellow duck sitting in yellow liquid in a sealed plastic bag titled "Sitting in Your Own Piss."
With a $5 donation, patrons were given a yellow sticky note to put anywhere they wanted. Directors of the show sported yellow to show support, while two volunteers from Chico High School decided to go all out.
Seniors Tia Austin and Jade Elhardt wore only their yellow underwear and painted their entire bodies with yellow acrylic paint.
Elhardt volunteers at The Crux because friends show their art there, she said.
The Yellow Show was Austin's first time helping out and she decided to make a splash, she said.
With only yellow underwear and a gratuitous amount of caked-on yellow paint, it seemed as if the "Yellow Girls" would be uncomfortable but they weren't.
"We kinda do this all the time," Elhardt said.
The stage matched the girls and was also yellow. Even the two chairs set up on the stage were yellow.
Visitors who didn't have yellow didn't stay that way for long. Elhardt went around with yellow paint and a brush to give quick face paintings to remedy any lack of yellow.
Everything hasn't always been yellow, though. This is the third time The Crux has hosted a color show. The first year was red-themed, last year was orange and this year it was yellow.
The directors enjoy the color theme because it's simple, said Max Infeld, director of the show.
"It's a great idea because it's so accessible, everyone's like, 'I can make something yellow,'" Infeld said.
Many people who came to see the art had something on display or knew someone whose works were showcased.
Christina Tetreault, a senior at Chico High School, came to the show to support her friends, she said. She wasn't sure what to think about the art.
"The art is, uh, weird," Tetreault said. "Some of it's, like, really good, and some of it's like, beginning."
Music for the event was by Anamnesis, which gave the show a creative and high-energy tone. There was also a raffle to win an event hosted at The Crux. The prize included one event night, marketing and assistance.
On top of the raffle, $5 got attendees their own yellow duck for Chico's biggest duck race in history - time and place to be announced.
A quote from the program summed the night up nicely.
"A yellow duck by itself is curious. Sixty yellow ducks can change the world, or we've been told."
Jen Siino can be reached at jsiino@theorion.com
