Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The Bad Robot Art Experience @ Gallery 1988


UPDATE:
Framed Album has been SOLD! Thanks Mr. Abrams :)
Signed and Numbered Prints are available to purchase by clicking HERE
To purchase the back album artwork, head over to my Etsy store by clicking HERE

Front/Back Artist Prints will be available in my ETSY STORE starting May 18th

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This friday, April 26th is "The Official Bad Robot Art Experience" at Gallery 1988. Most likely if you follow my blog, then you're well aware of how awesome this show is going to be. Bad Robot is the production company run by J.J. Abrams, and over the years, they have brought us some of the best television and movie experiences such as LOST, Cloverfield, Super 8, Alias, and a little thing called Star Trek.

Bad Robot and Gallery 1988 are teaming up to bring to Los Angeles "The Official Bad Robot Art Experience", featuring over 100 illustrators creating artwork based off some of Bad Robots awesome work. Also, some of the proceeds will help benefit "The Mission Continues", an excellent organization that "...awards community service fellowships to post-9/11 veterans, empowering them to transform their own lives by serving others and directly impacting their communities."

I am very excited for this show. When I first learned about it, I immediately knew I wanted to do a LOST piece for the show. I love LOST. It's one of my favorite shows, and while some people like to hate on the show, and unjustly bash the writers for "not having a plan", I'd like to thank them for creating one of the most imaginative, compelling, and well told stories that's ever aired on network television. For every LOST, we get a hundred CSI's. LOST is so dense, so unique and quite an accomplishment that I fear will never be repeated again. Where the x-files trailed off and went out on a somewhat sour note with the final 2 seasons, LOST had a chance to develop an end-game and went out swinging, and for that, I'm thankful to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

I've continued my "High Fidelity" series for this show with "Jack and the Survivors":


Get ready to put your Seat back and your tray tables in their upright and locked positions, it's Jack and the Survivors! Join Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, and more as they crash into your heart with their new hit album "LOST", featuring hit songs like, "Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do", "You All Everybody", and "Namaste". Get ready for a mind-blowing, time traveling good time and flashback with "Jack and the Survivors"!

LOST featured a lot of hidden messages to those willing to spend the time to look for them, and my album artwork along with the back of the album follows the trend. Here's the back of the album with full track listing along with some other hidden goodies.


Also, for each show I make a one of a kind framed album. The albums included with the artwork are always somehow related to the theme of the piece.


So for this show, I tracked down the record featured in what is easily one of my favorite moments from the series and probably the best 2nd best opening scene from the entire show:


Mama Cass's music is featured twice throughout the series, so I felt it was only appropriate to use this record for the artwork:



I will have quite a few prints (108 to be exact) available at the gallery. They are signed and numbered. A small amount of artist prints will be made available on my online store at a later time. I'll post more info when they become available. What would LOST artwork be without some mystery? Hidden within the stack of prints I gave to the gallery, there are 6 variants. They are signed and more importantly numbered, and each variant features it's own unique Dharma station logo seen below:

If you're looking for a one of a kind variant, be sure to ask for the right number when placing your order :)

There is a lot of excellent artwork in this show, and a lot of very talented artists that have in some way been influenced by the very talented people at Bad Robot. If you're in the Los Angeles area, you won't want to miss out on this exciting opening. Also, some of your money gets to go to Veterans who have risked their life fighting for our country, and ask for nothing in return. Thank you to our Veterans and for those currently serving overseas and right here at home.

"The Official Bad Robot Art Experience" at Gallery 1988
Opening - Friday April 26th 7-10pm
Ends - May 18th
Gallery 1988 (West)
7308 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
http://www.gallery1988.com

See you in another life, brother.

Monday, April 01, 2013

A Tribute to SNL @ Gallery 1988

You can buy a limited signed/numbered print by clicking HERE
You can buy the one-of-a-kind framed album by clicking HERE
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I have been watching Saturday Night Live since I was in my early teens. The show has had some pretty memorable characters over the years, but for me, there is no one better than Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar.

This is Gallery 1988's third group show based on comedy. For last year's piece, I chose Conan O'Brien, and something amazing happened. Conan O'Brien got in touch with me and now is the proud owner of a Joebot original! If you ever happen to make it into Conan's green room, you'll see my artwork hanging on the wall near the front door!

This year, the theme for the show was specifically to keep the pieces SNL themed. I was 12 years old when Wayne's World came out. I loved it. A lot. Next to the possibly obscure Christopher Walken skit where he puts googly eyes on plants to not be afraid of them anymore (See it HERE), Wayne's World is my favorite bit to ever come out of Saturday Night Live. I briefly thought about submitting a fern with some googly eyes... but instead, I decided to create another addition to my ongoing "High Fidelity" series:



I grew up in the small town of La Verne, CA. Across from my old high-school was a church that was used as a location in the film "The Graduate" which they recreated a scene from for Wayne's World 2. They were filming during the summer, and so I got to hang out and watch them for a few hours. In between takes, Mike Meyers came over to meet with the small group of us watching, and he was super nice! This is one of my favorite photos from my childhood:



I also created an album backing (just because it's one of the most fun parts for me, I love creating fake tracklists... I dunno why).



And here is the full framed one-of-a-kind album:



There is a lot of super talented artists in this show, so if you live near Los Angeles, take some time this month to go take a look at the show in person! If you can't make it out, you can always browse the gallery online by clicking HERE.

Come check out the show! It's currently showing in Gallery 1988's newest location until April 20th, 2013

Gallery 1988 (West)
7308 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323-937-7088