World Renowned Corporate Entertainer Brad Blaze, Entertainment, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Australia,

New Transformation Video

admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:16:44 +0000

This painting has been six months in the rehearsal – actually it’s not one painting, it’s two paintings in the one picture. One famous face slowly morphs into another famous face.

Chinese New Year Celebrations

admin — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 02:18:42 +0000

I recently had the pleasure of performing at Chinese New Year Celebrations in Melbourne and Perth.

During the Perth event I painted Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest – if you follow finance, he is Australia’s Richest Man. I actually did an event for him back in 2007 in Kalgoorlie, Perth so it was great to meet him again. Last time I drew a quick caricature of him, this time I painted him infront of 900 Australian and Chinese business people.

His painting I absolutely nailed.. pretty happy with this one.. Twiggy was happy too.

Fire Reveals

admin — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:47:40 +0000

I’ve been lighting up quite a few faces with fire lately – it’s now a fixture of my corporate show and it’s quite the reveal!

Last week I was on Channel 7′s Sunrise, where I lit up host Mark Beretta’s face and here is a video of me last night at the SCG during half time infront of 27,000 people where I did a few paintings lighting them up at the end.. Have a smokin’ hot New Years and 2012.

Here is the final pic, after a quick touchup:

Red Dog poses for Brad Blaze

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:14:55 +0000

“Red Dog” is a classic Aussie movie – I’ve seen it now on the plane twice! So it was great pleasure to meet the lead actor “Koko” in Perth last week. Here is the story from Perth now:

RED DOG star Koko the Kelpie has turned his hand (or paw) to modelling, posing for ‘speed painter’ Brad Blaze.

Koko joins a long line of famous faces who have been captured on canvas by the Sydney artist, including Tiger Woods, Eric Bana, Shane Warne and Richie Benaud.

Blaze paints in a blitz lasting just minutes set to high intensity music, and he often includes fire, a spinning canvas and dancing girls in his live act. He was named 2011 Entertainer of the Year in the Australian Event Awards.

“I grew up in the mid seventies watching Mr Squiggle, and I guess part of that has rubbed off on me. It is Mr Squiggle for the 21st century!” said Blaze, who quit his day job in insurance to pursue art full-time.

His works have raised over $500,000 for charity in the past 12 months.

Koko’s portrait has been donated to the Shenton Park Dogs’ Refuge Home which will auction the canvas.

“Koko was fantastic, the best model that I’ve had for a long time. He sat perfectly still, was entranced by the Schmackos and the head rubs and didn’t move,” said Blaze.

To watch the painting in action, visit the Perth Now website: http://www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/perth-confidential/koko-poses-for-modern-mr-squiggle/story-e6frg30l-1226187770039

WINNER – ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

admin — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:22:35 +0000

Last night I was awarded the Entertainer of the Year at the Australian Event Awards. Thank you for everyone who has supported me, it really is an honour to receive this award.

(click on photo twice to download the high resolution photo – courtesy of EventPix).

Here is the official press release from the awards:

Winners Announced

The 2011 Santos Tour Down Under, Mother’s Day Classic, the Sydney Festival and Australian Open are among Australia’s most exceptional events named at the 2011 Australian Event Awards in Sydney tonight (6 October 2011).

Santos Tour Down Under sets the pace at 2011 Australian Event Awards

With all six states represented, the Australian Event Awards is a celebration of the thriving national events industry, from major sporting tournaments and arts festivals, to charity events and business conferences.

The glittering night attended by hundreds of industry specialists was staged at Allphones Arena (formerly ACER Arena), Sydney Olympic Park tonight with extraordinary performances by all four Entertainer of the Year finalists.

“From Australia’s expertise in major sporting events like the 2011 Santos Tour Down Under and the Australian Open, to arts festivals such as Tropfest, Melbourne Music and the Sydney Festival, the judges were enthralled by the excellence and diversity of Australia’s events arena,” said Johnny Allen, Foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Event management and co-chair of the judges.

“From more than 70 finalist entries across all categories, the judges made some tough decisions to select Australia’s most remarkable achievements in an industry brimming with creativity, innovation and professional talent. The 2011 winners showcase a great range of brilliant events including Tasmania’s Ten Days on an Island, the 35^th International Trumpet Guild Conference, and outstanding individual successes, such as young achiever, Tara Whitfield and the world’s fastest portrait painter, Brad Blaze!”

After winning Best Tourism Event for the third consecutive year, Events South Australia took home the most prestigious award of the night, the 2011 Australian Event of the Year for the universally successful 2011 Santos Tour Down Under.

“The Santos Tour Down Under was again an incredible success, attracting thousands of people from across Australia and around the world to Adelaide last January. The incredible eight-day event has become a very important opening race on the UCI World Tour Programme, with world ranked cyclists, including Lance Armstrong, making the journey from abroad to compete on the spectacular route,” Johnny Allen said.

The man behind numerous Australian iconic events and music legends, Peter Rix, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award, for his outstanding creativity, innovation and dedication to Australia’s events and entertainment culture.

Another one of Australia’s leading event producers and Judge of the Event Awards, David Grant said, “Peter has delivered many of Australia’s most memorable events, using his outstanding creativity and ultimate professionalism to produce unique, landmark experiences that both the industry and general public enjoy and fondly refer to.”

Australia’s expertise in producing events overseas was recognised in the category for Best Event Export, with Laservision Mega~Media receiving the award for delivering the launch of Fortune 500 company, Las Vegas Sands Corporation’s newest hotel in Singapore – The Marina Bay Sands.

Best New Event was awarded to the City of Melbourne for Melbourne Music, an inaugural festival of great diversity that activated major live music venues and included over 100 free concerts.

Winner of two awards, the brand communication specialists, IMAGINATION, won Best Corporate Event for the Ford Ranger Global Launch Event and Best Achievement in Design, Look or Theming for the Ford stand at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney 2010.

Nominated as finalists in three categories, 2Fish Brand Experience Creators were rewarded for their innovative use of technology in the Hot Wheels Secret Race Battle, while the Sydney Showground was named Best Venue.

The Event Manager of the Year went to the small team at leading event management agency, Out There Productions, for their consistent production of high quality, innovative and diverse of the events.

Tara Whitfield took the title Young Achiever of the Year, in recognition of her strong aptitude and commitment, which led Humm to promote her to Event Manger at just 24 years of age. Tara’s passion and dedication shone in her extensive work under harsh outdoors conditions to successfully deliver eight large-scale events in a 12-month period.

Acknowledged as an industry training benchmark and an amazing export of Australian knowledge to the world, the Professional Development Program run by the Australian Centre for Event Management won the Best Education or Training Program.

Through its work on Midsumma Carnival, Turnstile 21 was recognised as the Best Achievement in Sustainability for its fantastic new initiative dedicated to sustainable practice, while Adelaide Festival Centre’s OZAsia Festival was awarded with Best Achievement in Marketing, Communication or Sponsorship.

Other proud winners included A LIST Guide as Product of the Year, Staging Connections for Academy of Wedding Planners Best Private Event, Reed Exhibitions Australia for Best Exhibition supported by EEAA and Blanco Food and Events for Best Achievement in Catering.

LIST OF WINNERS – 2011 Australian Event Award Winners

Australian Event of the Year

2011 Santos Tour Down Under – Events South Australia

Sydney Olympic Park Best Sporting Event

Australian Open 2011 – Tennis Australia

Best Tourism Event

2011 Santos Tour Down Under – Events South Australia

Best Charity or Cause-Related Event

Mother’s Day Classic 2011- Women in Super

CIM Magazine Best Meeting or Conference

35th International Trumpet Guild Conference – Conexion Event Management

Best Cultural, Arts or Music Event

Sydney Festival 2011

Best Corporate Event

Ford Ranger Global Launch Event – Imagination

Best Exhibition supported by the EEAA

Queensland Mining and Engineering Exhibition 2010 – Reed Exhibitions Australia

Best Community Event

Tropfest 2011 – Splendid Communications and Tropfest Events

Academy of Wedding Planners Best Private Event

Kuvesh and Vyda Wedding – Staging Connections

Best New Event

Melbourne Music – City of Melbourne

Best Regional Event

Ten Days on the Island

Best Achievement in Design, Look or Theming

IMAGINATION for their work on the Ford stand at the Australian International Motor Show, Sydney 2010

Best Achievement in Catering

Blanco Food and Events for their work on The Cook & the Chef (& the Winemaker)

Best Achievement in Marketing, Communication or Sponsorship

Adelaide Festival Centre’s OZAsia Festival

Best Achievement in Sustainability

Turnstile 21 for their work on Midsumma Carnival

Best Technical Achievement or Innovation

2Fish Brand Experience Creators for their work on Hot Wheels Secret Race Battle: Customs House, Circular Quay, Sydney

Best Venue

Sydney Showground

Best Product or Service

A LIST Guide

Best Education or Training Program

Australian Centre for Event Management – Professional Development Program

Best Export

Laservison Mega~Media

Young Achiever of the Year

Tara Whitfield

Entertainer of the Year

Brad Blaze

Event Manager of the Year

Out There Productions

Lifetime Achievement Award

Peter Rix

Entertainer of the Year Finalist!

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:32:53 +0000

I am delighted to announce that I am a finalist in this years Event Awards in the category of “Entertainer of the Year 2011″. During the industry night of nights gala event later this week the winner will be announced and I’ll also be performing at the dinner. For further information: www.eventawards.com.au

Here are some photos from an event in Shanghai where I kept them guessing with paintings of Einstein, Confucious and a customised company painting.

Becoming Unconventional – FREE BOOK

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:21:45 +0000

I travel. I experience. I entertain to strangers. I love it.

For the next month, I’m giving you absolute free access to a guide that I have called “Trailblazer”. It’s a 30 page PDF about getting locked in toilets in China, painting giant cows on stage and painting Prime Ministers.

It’s about some of the experiences I have had that I would like to share along with some tips on how you can be different, how you can be a leader in your field.. all with some real life examples.

You can download it here. Like it? Great, let’s be buddies on one of the social media pages below. Love it? Awesome.. you are easy pleased. Why don’t you throw a few bucks towards your favourite charity – you never know what good karma this could bring.

Celebrity Speed Paintings – Sportsman

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 05:45:47 +0000

A quick update with some new art from some recent gala SPORTS EVENTS I have entertained at. Maybe you know these now retired sports stars?

Dubai Entertainer

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 01:52:39 +0000

Time for something a little different. I thought I would tell you about some of the countries I have performed in, what I expected and what I found out.. Just last month I did my first show in Dubai..

Stepping off the plane for my first show in Dubai was somewhat overwhelming. I had forty eight hours to take it all in before performing a show at the five star Dubai Creek Golf Club, a prestigious club that is not too dissimilar to the huge white sails of the Sydney Opera House and also features on their twenty dirhams bank note.

This flashy, luxurious, modern city has an air of confidence, if not arrogance about it. It seems hell bent on proving something to the rest of the world. It is a great strategy – why not make everything “the best in the world”, it is the catalyst for driving business and tourism in a location which is hard to believe is still really the harsh desert.

The song “Anything you can do, I can do better” comes to mind when I think of Dubai. I am reminded of this when I take the big red bus tour around the city. “…and on our left we have the Burj Khalifa, the largest building in the world. It is approximately 818 metres in height. We say approximately, because we could always improve on the height!” our tour operator says with a chuckle. Last month a building in Hong Kong overtook the Burj Khalifa as the tallest in the world, so expect modifications to the Khalifa to overtake it again, after all, the whole lobby is dedicated to showing you how much taller it is than other buildings.

Dubai is almost surreal. I can imagine a giant list that the sheiks put together. Tallest building. Check. Largest shopping mall. Check. Largest indoor ski field. Check. Umm, we like the design of the Chrysler building in America. Check, actually we’ll build two of them side by side. Check. We’ll build massive parks and golf courses and use trillions of gallons of water to keep everything green, so nobody knows we are in the middle of the desert. Check. We’ll build a massive residential area in the shape of a palm tree, actually while we are at it, let’s build a map of the world in islands. Check and check. Now you know, why it is somewhat overwhelming.

As for the comparisons between Dubai and Vegas. It’s really chalk and cheese. I was in Vegas a month earlier and whilst I believe it still holds the crown for hustle and bussle, excitement and the outlandish, Dubai is about where luxury has no limits and everything they do is the best, or the biggest, or the most expensive. It really is a city that is sprinkled in gold, which incidentally you can buy in little bars from convenient teller machines around the major tourist attractions.

So I survived my forty eight hours before my show in Dubai and my most enjoyable moments were spent wandering the museum and the sand pit areas of old Dubai, bargaining with the locals in the textile, spice and gold souks. However, spending forty bucks to get to the top of the Burj Khalifa, getting lost in the world’s largest shopping centre and seeing all the wonders of this surreal city was also breathtaking.

Brad Blaze performed in Dubai for KPMG at the World Golf summit forum. He painted golf legend Jack Nicholas, Elvis Presley and the prestigious Dubai Creek Golf Club, with the final painting now hanging in the prestigious club.

Judgement Day

admin — Tue, 31 May 2011 06:17:35 +0000

Recently I performed at a sell out Boxing luncheon in Perth, Australia (500 pax). IBO cruiserweight champion Danny Green (31 wins/3 losses) from Australia will face former light-heavyweight world champion Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (28 wins/6 loses) from the USA at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Wednesday, July 20. I can’t wait.

Here are some photos from my show at the event. If you think Antonio looks familiar, he starred opposited Stallone in Rocky Balboa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8EzKvXJh6M

I’ve put a bunch of photos on Flickr. Thanks to Brad Hopes and Gus Burrows (www.styledia.com.au) for the pics..