Rich mahogany-colored walls were covered with large pieces of white butcher paper from the floors all the way to the ceilings in order to create a completely white space in the Kimball Gallery at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.

The fifth annual Illusion exhibit, conducted by the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, attracted 150 people last Saturday. The artists, all barefoot and dressed in white, created the scene for which the exhibit will soon take place and range from painters, sculptors, dancers, and musicians.

“Essentially we are creating a blank space from which to create art,” said Ardian Arias, the exhibit's curator.

First, however the artists conducted a procession through the museum to make their presence known to the observers and to also clear the room of the energy that went into creating the blank white space.

“When we come back from the procession, it allows us to re-focus our energy and clear the space in order to simulate a blank canvas," Lars Howlett, who is a live drawing artist, says. "It allows for an untouched surface on which to create.”

Each artist carried an object that is white such as a suitcase, a musical instrument or blank sheets of paper as they walked single file through the museum's corridors. Observers looked on and tried to figure out what the procession is meant to represent.

The last Illusion exhibit took place at the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco the previous year and the procession was led through Dolores Park. The Illusion exhibit is the only exhibit of its kind in a sense that it is truly improvisational and audience participation is key, said Riaz Abdulla, who played piano at the event.

“Usually improvisational art involves actors, not artists painters and sculptors. I think that is what makes this exhibit so special,” Abdulla said.

Artists and observers work together to transform the blank white space into a work of art, said Mabel Negrete, a photographer and one of the exhibit's artists. The color white is meant to represent the transformation of a blank canvas into a form of artistic expression.

“This purpose of the exhibit is to encourage the process of participation by the audience,” Negrete said. “That is what makes this a truly amazing project when you can get the audience as well as other artists involved.”

Howlett performed a live drawing as performance artists danced to the beat of percussion instruments that were accompanied by a string orchestra as well as a tambourine. No medium was off-limits, as the dancers began to remove their clothes and paint their bodies. Howlett drew a silhouette of a participant as she stood on a chair, her arms raised with her nose pressed against the wall. He traced her slim figure against the canvas in charcoal. Small children painted and drew at eye level.

“All artists will be working beside each other, to also simulate the integration of bodies,” Arias said as the artists painted, sculpted, drew, and wrote poetry next to one another.

“Creation is about feeling. Art is about feeling,” Arias said. “When people are confused, they are meant to feel something rather than try to understand it.”