EVENT: PLUTO! AT THE DISCO, 2020
Pluto! At The Disco logo/artwork created by Rick Dove.
Pluto! At the Disco was an art show and disco party combined into one. Tommy, owner of Drama Club Kids, and I gathered local Los Angeles visual artists, designers, and performers to display their work. It was held February 22, 2020 from 8:00 PM to 12:00 AM in Downtown Los Angeles.
At Pluto! At the Disco, our goal was to create a safe space for artists and creatives(we hated that word at the time) to spread their wings. A space where everyone could come together, be themselves, and enjoy some good music and artwork. We were two 17-year-old innovative kids who want to show our potential on a competitive platform.
Pluto! At The Disco, 2020. Shot by RayVisions
The idea of Pluto! at the Disco came to be in the summer of 2019. I was listening to this Japanese pop song from the 80s called Dress Down by Kaoru Akimoto. It had a really strong disco vibe, and that’s when I came up with the idea to have an art show and a disco party. I called up Tommy and told him about my idea in January 2020, and to my luck, he had been planning to have an art show as well. A month later, Pluto! at the Disco was born. And yes, Pluto! at the Disco is a play on words based on Panic! at the Disco.
Pluto! At The Disco recap video. Shot by Idris Sultan.
Pluto! At The Disco flyer. Artwork by Pluto.
For the vendors, we had MAJIK ESSENCE, Harley, Sai Earth, Uski Studios, Algol the Star, Le Jardin, and Tommy and I of course. The performers of the event consisted of $amaad, Samara Bradley, Trinity, Kiiingsley + 2D, and Music by Dorsh. The amazing Akasha Spice DJ’d the whole event. What was so cool about this lineup was that we were friends with everyone. We always had the philosophy that we give our friends an opportunity, and that if one of us is on, all of us are on.
And as previously mentioned, this was my first art show, and Tommy was fairly new to this as well. We gave ourselves 1 month to throw the whole event together, and to this day, I still don’t know how we pulled it off. Especially considering that A Lots Been Good took months to prepare. We were just kids working minimum wage jobs, and we were doing our best to bring our vision to fruition, and that’s what makes Pluto! At The Disco so special.
From an artist’s perspective, looking back at what I displayed at the art show, I can say with confidence that my work has definitely improved(which is a good thing of course). I also didn’t have a huge lineup or merch to sell and didn’t take a lot of good photos of my work. But one thing did shine through, and that was the birth of the Gun Girl series. Looking back, I really like this tote bag and I might even bring it back.
Pluto’s World - Gun Girl tote bag, 2020
