'FOOTLOOSE. Artist combines painting, dancing, music at Downtown Hollywood ArtWalk' By Melvin Félix | Staff writer
With a brush or pencil in hand,
Daniel Pontet has been painting and drawing since age 4. Now, at 56, he gets
his kicks out of making art with his feet. Pontet, who lives in Hallandale
Beach with his wife and daughters, has become a fixture at ArtWalk, a free
monthly event in downtown Hollywood where he can be seen painting portraits
with his toes and heels.
On the third Saturday of every
month, Pontet puts away his shoes and glides over a canvas for hours, inspired
by the beat of drums banged by local musicians and spectators who want to join
in. “The work of art is no longer the
painting but the performance itself,” says Pontet, who moved from Montevideo,
Uruguay’s capital, to South Florida in1991. “The canvas is the stage.”
Pontet was influenced by a mentor
in Uruguay who told him art is fundamentally in the artist’s head, and should
travel through the body regardless of the tools. “I wondered, will art travel all
the way down to the feet?” Pontet said. “I discovered it travels through the
entire body. I’ve even painted with my elbows.” Though the artist has eschewed
the traditional brush and canvas in lieu of his feet for the past three years,
he still paints by hand when he’s not performing.
This summer, for example, he
finished a one-story mural with two standing knights and another atop a horse
at the Hollywood Academy of Arts & Science. “His eye for detail and passion
for quality made him our muralist of choice,” said Donte Fulton, the charter
school’s principal. “Mr. Pontet was able to take a simple vision and create a
wonderful work of art for all to experience.”
The paintings Pontet does with
his feet are physically taxing. “When I’m done, my whole body
hurts and it takes a few days to get back into shape,” he said. “It’s hard to
keep your balance when you’re standing over slippery paint. There are times
when I have to take a skier’s posture, you know, where you stand with your legs
far apart for balance.” Pontet says he enters a trance
once the musicians start banging their drums. He’ll stand and listen to the
music for up to 30 minutes, trying to visualize what he’ll end up painting.
Evan Kline, one of three drummers who accompany Pontet
during the ArtWalk performances, says their drumming speeds up or slows down
according to the colors and shapes the artist uses. “It’s definitely a symbiotic relationship,” Kline said.
“It’s not just our energy feeding him. It’s him feeding us too.”
“People can show up with something to hit or shake and join in the rhythms with us,” Kline said. “You can bring djembes [hand drums], congas, bongos, floor toms, maracas, cowbells, pots, pans. It’s South Florida, it all works.”
“People can show up with something to hit or shake and join in the rhythms with us,” Kline said. “You can bring djembes [hand drums], congas, bongos, floor toms, maracas, cowbells, pots, pans. It’s South Florida, it all works.”
mfelix@tribune.com or Twitter @mj_felix
If you go
What: “Reactionary Impulse Art” at Downtown Hollywood
ArtWalk
When: 7 p.m. Saturday (the third Saturday of every month)
Where: 2001 Hollywood Blvd., between 20th and 21st avenues
Cost: Free
Contact: visithollywoodfl.org/artwalk.aspx
HOW DOES
HE DO IT? CHECK OUT A PERFORMANCE AT SOUTHFLORIDA.COM/FEET
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