LOWER EAST SIDE - In 2012, artist Mike Perry, now 34, and his friend fellow artist Josh Cochran were lamenting how much they missed figure drawing, an art class staple with very little practical application for the professional artist. So they decided to organize what Perry called a "crazy nude drawing marathon."
But they didn't want to use professional models.
"We wanted to see if we could get strangers to pose as a concept," Perry said.
The concept worked, thanks to some social media recruiting, and the drawing sessions and associated exhibitions have become a near annual occurrence (the last was in November 2014 in London).
The fifth exhibition in the series will take place Thursday at Tictail on Orchard Street from 7 to 11 p.m. Perry and seven other artists will exhibit nearly 500 drawings of amateur models in a variety of mediums, all of which were done during an all-day session in Perry's Crown Heights studio on Jan. 16.
"The schedule is really hardcore," said Perry, whose work can also be seen in the animated title sequences for "Broad City." "We have a different [model] rolling in every half hour."
"For me, its really about being in a room with eight other artists, and the models, and just having an intense creative day," Perry said.
The drawings will each sell for $20 and any that don't get snapped up will be sold on the Tictail website.
Other exhibition artists include Chrissy Angliker, Jon Burgerman, Josh Cochran, Mario Hugo, Julia Rothman, Edward Ubiera and Joo Hee Yoon.
