The Barnstormers take over the space as the first artists participating in the Contemporary's new project series, O2art. Five of the group's 25 members will come to Hawai'i for eight days and transform the museum's tennis court walls with a collective style of painting in flux, creating an evolving design reflecting their philosophy: "No condition is permanent."

Each Barnstormer is a recognized artist. Together, their ideas ricochet off each other in a creative explosion, finding an equilibrium of individual visions splayed on unconventional canvases as the painted images take turns colliding, adjusting, overcoming and surrendering. Clouds, animals, body parts and aliens are among the shapes playing a tug of war, fading in and out with each other.

"It's like the seasons," said David Ellis, the Barnstormers' founder, calling from Secca, N.C. "It might be sunny one day; it might rain the next day.

"It's like on the street, where people leave their mark and nature leaves its mark, and it all swirls together. Someone might write their name up on a wall, then someone might post a flier for a show, then a company might post an ad for Nike. We're just trying to get in touch with that."

"People have their different definitions of what graffiti is," he said. "I think the graffiti label is not accurate. Graffiti is more about self-glorification. We're all about connections and jamming together. Going over someone else's work is unheard of in graffiti — we do it all the time." Ellis points to graffiti's use of spray paint in contrast to the Barnstormers' use of house paint, film, and sculpture.

Teens from Kuhio Park Terrace are being recruited to assist the Barnstormers paint. Creating opportunities for Hawai'i people to work with the visiting artists is one of the goals of the museum's Catalyst Artists in Residence program. And visitors will be able to watch the project unfold in real time.

The Barnstormers are used to incorporating the fourth dimension — time — into their art. They've created time-lapse films of their art, throwing the visuals on top of DJ and jazz beats. The result is a hypnotic documentary claiming the entire process as art, not just the final product.

Opening up to fresh and fluid forms of art is exactly what the Contemporary Museum hopes for with its O2art program, says Wei Fang, the Contemporary Museum's curator of education, who also organized The Barnstormers' show. O2 — oxygen, fresh air — seeks to disarm previously conceived notions of art, taking exhibits outside and letting them breathe outdoors.

The Barnstormers capture the constantly evolving images of their work with time-lapse film. These freeze frames are from the Barnstormers' 2000 film, "Watching Paint Dry." Alex Lebadev and David Ellis

The Barnstormers, in particular, burst convention with their art's scale and impermanence, and by including women artists in the mix.

"At the Contemporary Museum, we constantly struggle with the idea of pushing the boundaries in art," Fang said, "specifically, bringing in new things from outside to be shared here in Hawai'i. This is definitely a very lively, very active, very contemporary form of art we hadn't found a good spotlight for."

The Barnstormers try something new with every project. In the past, they've painted 18-wheelers and used old refrigerators and washing machines as music speakers. But Ellis, who draws from "the moment" is unsure how they will push the limits in Hawai'i, although incorporating natural elements, such as rocks, sticks, and things from the beach, is a possibility.

"I never really get the full thing of what I'm going to do until I get there," said Ellis, waiting until he sees Honolulu for the first time. "It's the air, the humidity, the people, the food.

"For us, it's about not repeating. It's almost like an intensive study or a battle. We're pushing ourselves and pushing each other and raising a bar. It's not like we're trying to compete with the art world. We have our own world and we're trying to break that mold."

When finished, the Barnstormers' film will be shown inside the museum and the final painting should stay up on the tennis court walls for at least a few months, until the O2art painter, Michael Lin, needs a clean canvas when he comes in spring 2005.

O2art, the Catalyst program, and the Barnstormers' arrival represent a museum effort to involve a greater part of the community.

"Everything I've seen the Barnstormers do is really an invitation of participation for everybody," Fang said. "It's not something where we're going to say, 'Oh! Don't touch that!' or 'Stand far away!' "

On an even larger scale, the Barnstormers represent the Contemporary Museum's effort to create more international connections. "You hear that Hawai'i is either the middle of nowhere or the center of the Pacific," Fang said. "So, we're trying to be more on the center of the Pacific side of things.

Contact Noelle Chun at (808) 535-2413 or at nchun@honoluluadvertiser.com.