By Maggie Downs
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Andrew Van Sickle views art the same way he views the Justice League superhero team - collaboration makes it more interesting.

"It's much better to watch Batman, Superman and the Flash join forces to kick someone's ass than to see Batman kick it by himself," he said.

That's the theory behind the featured artwork at Over-the-Rhine's Club Clau, where Van Sickle, 37, is art director.

The piece was completed by four local artists, who specialize in different genres, on a four-foot by eight-foot canvas. Every other month, Van Sickle will gather another group of artists for another collaboration.

"It makes for terribly interesting art, because it's a mish-mash of ideas," he said. "It's different and creative and fun."

So is everything else Clau is doing. The concept for the club, which opened in June, is to marry the art world with the music and dance worlds. Artwork is so important to the place that an art menu - listing prices from $150 to $1,000 - sits on the bar where a drink menu would typically rest.

"We're not going to have a bunch of TV monitors all tuned to Sportscenter," Van Sickle said.

Clau currently features the work of himself and three other local artists and one international photographer, Gary Lee Boas, who specialized in candid snapshots of celebrities between 1966 and 1980.

Local artists at the club include:

• Mike Hurst - His paintings of club kids, from dancers to DJs, are in the vein of pop artists Alex Katz and Roy Lichtenstein.

• Tony Frizell - A street painter whose art centers on found objects.

• Van Sickle - He makes silkscreened pop art images of old burlesque ads and comic book characters.

• Paul Lewis - This painter was discovered selling his paintings on Short Vine in Corryville. Now his tributes to hip-hop musicians hang above the club's champagne tables.

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com

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