Art All Night

April 21st, 2026

The sunlit interior of a fast food restaurant, with rows of brightly colored booths, chairs arranged around small tables, and large terrarium windows.

Art All Night happened this weekend, and I was able to attend with many friends. My roommates and I decided we all wanted to submit something to the open-call, no-jury, locals-only art show. It was partly just for fun, and party to get over the insecurity of not feeling enough like a ‘real artist’ to go for any opportunities with a level of gatekeeping involved.

But before that — there was an afternoon excursion to try and see the world’s largest “rubber duck” in person. It was hanging out in the suburbs this weekend in anticipation of the NFL draft happening this week. Tragically, we were informed that the duck would not be inflated that day because of the wind. Despite the setback, we still went to see it because we had planned to go to Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe that day anyway.

looking down at a table full of freshly-prepared burgers and hot dogs, with hands reaching for sandwiches, soda cups and iced tea bottles.

A hand reaching down to pick up one of two chili dogs dressed in zig-zagging mustard trails

A temporary wall covered in artwork in a range of scale and media. Most notably: A brigh, neon punch rug stating EAT MY ASS, an enamel circle with marbled ink on the surface, resembling the moon, a giant cut-out of the video game character Kirby, covered in glitter, and an inkjet print on large-format paper of Princess Celestia from My Little Pony, surrounded by dark flames.

This show felt like if the Anthrocon art show became very unserious. It’s definitely the see-and-be-seen event for the weirdo general public, and the attitude towards art is so open-minded, so unpretentious, that it becomes a parody of the idea of an art show in the first place. The U.S. Census meets the Académie des Beaux-Arts. I am saying all of this as praise and exaltation, by the way. I really like it!

A large warehouse full of people, with an art installation of many foil balloons hanging from the ceiling. There is a large handmade sign that reads VIDEO LOUNGE over everyone's heads.

A view of the space, showing brightly colored and bizarre objects on tables and walls as far as the eye can see.

The best part of this show is that anyone of any age can participate, and the artist’s age is posted on the label next to their work. There is a ton of work made by kids, and every kid piece is my favorite. I feel like they really capture the spirit of the event.

A collage of watercolor splotches and clippings from magazines, including a fancy white cat, a woman smiling while standing in front of a brick wall, and counry star Dolly Parton dressed with another woman in pink sparkly dresses, holding cocktails.

Statement from the 4-year-old artist: "This is beautiful. I want you to be happy. I worked so hard. Cats love mac and cheese and so do I."

Because my favorite game is schema, we came up with the concept of Good Age Theory while walking around — Kids and people make the best art, because they’re at an age where they either don’t know to question themselves, or don’t care. Everyone in the middle has to figure it out.

Four equally sized rectangles of different colors, stacked vertically, showing different faces drawn in a straightforward style with black ink. The faces each show expressions that combine apathy, fear, confusion, and satisfaction.

Another piece by a 4 year old artist. This was my group's collective favorite.

I had enough time in the afternoon to sit down and finish my new fursuit head, so Lapse got to debut himself there too!

Two fursuiters, one a Mallard, the other a Common Loon, with arms around each other looking happy.

While Rodo and I were suiting, we saw a young person in a fluffy dino mask suit walking around with their dad. We went out of our way to say hi and, and they were elated. They said, “You look so good!” and I said, “You look so good!” I hope they felt understood and emboldened, I certainly did.