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Graffiti ‘battle’ to take place near Fenway Park

Artists took part in a "Secret Walls" art battle in Miami in December 2014. Secret Walls

There’s a battle going down near Yawkey Way Thursday between Boston and New York, but it won’t involve bats and balls, or the Red Sox and pinstriped Yankees.

This fight calls for broad strokes of black paint instead.

Secret Walls, an international competition series inspired by Marvel comics and graffiti, will pit two local talents against two New York City artists during a 90-minute live drawing session on large strips of blank canvas.

Known as the “Fight Club” of the art scene, the “illustration battle” will test the artists’ techniques under pressure as a crowd looks on.

The event is hosted by ’47, an apparel company. It will take place across the street from Fenway Park, in the alley entrance of Yawkey Way and Arthur’s Way. The event starts at 7 p.m. Tents will be set up in case of inclement weather.

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Dana Woulfe and Percy Fortini-Wright will represent Boston and challenge New York City artists Greg Mishka and L’Amour Suprim to the art-off.

Woulfe, an illustration and design graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, said contestants will rely on only black acrylic and spray paint to create a mural on the 10-by-6 foot canvases.

He said the contest essentially eliminates colors and pencils, which he called “crutches” for many artists in drawing and painting.

Although it will be a challenge to stand in front of strangers and create a strictly black-and-white work of art, Woulfe, who owns Studio Fresh, a design and paint service in Boston, isn’t nervous.

“I’m looking forward to it … and celebrating our victory,” he said. “It’s going to be super-fun once it gets going. Once I’m in it, it’s going to be great. But the wait is killing me.”

Woulfe and Fortini-Wright, a graduate of the Art Institute of Boston, have a plan in place for what they will paint Thursday, but the artistic duo wouldn’t divulge their secret.

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“We are going to cater to the hometown crowd. That’s all we’re going to say,” Woulfe said. “But these kids that come from New York are no joke. This is going to test us in terms of our talent level.”


Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.