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Gallery 1988

Television

Cool J.J. Abrams-Inspired Art From Gallery 1988′s Bad Robot Show

By Jason Bailey on

There are times where it feels like we’re some kind of blog arm of Gallery 1988, the wonderful Los Angeles-area gallery that is, as they say, “the #1 destination for pop culture art.” But as long as they keep curating amazing shows, we’ll keep showing you what they’ve got; this time, it’s The Official Bad Robot Experience, opening Friday and showcasing pieces inspired by the film and television work of J.J. Abrams, from Lost to Star Trek to Cloverfield. … Read More

Television

Awesome ‘SNL’-Inspired Art From Gallery 1988

By Jason Bailey on

Gallery 1988, you’ve done it again. Our favorite pop culture-obsessed art gallery unveiled a new show last weekend, and it’s a doozy: Is This Thing On #2 Too, featuring art inspired by Saturday Night Live, with everyone from Matt Foley to the Blues Brothers to the Church Lady to Toonces the Driving Cat immortalized on canvas (and even in ceramic). After the jump, have a look at some of our favorites for the exhibit — and click on the title of each piece to grab a print of your own via Gallery 1988’s online store. … Read More

Pop Culture

Imaginative Ads for Pop Culture’s Most Famous Fictional Products

By Jason Bailey on

Few institutions hold the key to our pop culture-obsessed heart like Gallery 1988, the dual-location Los Angeles art gallery that showcases art celebrating our favorite films, music, and TV. The latest exhibit for the Venice Gallery is Product Placement, consisting of imagined artwork for fictional products from all points of the pop culture universe. Join us after the jump for a preview of the show, which opens Saturday and runs through March 30th, including inventive ads for Red Apple cigarettes, Soul Glo hair products, Dapper Dan pomade, and more. … Read More

Art

‘The Humorist’: Art Inspired by the Films of Woody Allen

By Judy Berman on

From Charlie Chaplin to Ingmar Bergman to Paris’ 1920s expatriate literary scene, Woody Allen is a filmmaker who wears his influences from across all media on his tweed-covered sleeve. So it’s only right that Allen, in turn, has inspired a visual art exhibition. Gallery 1988′s group show, The Humorist, pays tribute to the director, writer, actor, and comedian’s 50-year career. Through February 2nd, visitors to the gallery’s Venice location can see beautiful and clever riffs on Bananas, Zelig, Manhattan, Midnight in Paris, and more — including an awful of lot of pieces inspired by Annie Hall. Click through to see a selection of our favorite pieces, and visit Gallery 1988′s website to preview the entire show and buy prints. … Read More

Pop Culture

Gallery 1988′s ‘Breaking Bad’ Tribute Exhibition

By Alison Nastasi on

Pop culture purveyors of all things awesome Gallery 1988 launched an exciting viral campaign featuring art inspired by AMC’s Breaking Bad. Website Breaking Gifs published a run of posters over the past several weeks. The artwork concluded with a show at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles last night, and with only two episodes left in the first half of the final season (we feel like crying about this), the timing couldn’t be better. The exhibit runs through August 26 at their Melrose location. All the posters from the viral project will be on display, along with new works, several of which we feature past the break. Although the artwork just became available for purchase online, many of them are already sold out. Hurry to the store to pick up your own Gus Fring from Carlos East and Ernesto East of The Beast Brothers, a Tortuga tortoise print by Ken Garduno, and many others. The Ken Taylor print can be purchased over here. Click through for an artful look at Heisenberg and the gang. … Read More

Art

Preview Gallery 1988′s ‘Arrested Development’ Tribute Exhibition

By Alison Nastasi on

Cult sitcom Arrested Development — following the exploits of the dysfunctional Bluth family — is being honored at a tribute exhibition our pop culture friends Gallery 1988 are hosting from June 29 to July 21 (Melrose location). There’s Always Money in the Banana Stand — named after George Bluth’s famous, fervent line — will feature everything from paintings to dolls, celebrating the Bluths and their upcoming return to TV.

As you’ll recall, Netflix will be reviving the comedy series for a fourth season, set to stream on their website exclusively. The 10-episode lineup will be spotlighting a different character each show, premiering in early 2013 — and let’s not forget that movie they promised us. Head past the break for a preview of the show, with big thanks to Gallery 1988 for sharing with us. … Read More

Art

Gallery: Pop Culture Artists Pay Tribute to Hitchcock’s Legendary Films

By Alison Nastasi on

Gallery 1988 — purveyors of all things pop culture — is hosting a gathering full of gallows humor and shadowy mayhem. The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, is the subject of the California gallery’s latest exhibit, which features over 100 artists paying tribute to one of cinema’s most iconic directors. Suspense & Gallows Humor: A Tribute to the All-Time Greatest focuses on the pioneering filmmaker’s psychological thrillers and twisted tales of terror — including Psycho, North by Northwest, The Birds, and more.

Appropriately, the exhibit opens at Gallery 1988 Venice in Santa Monica on Friday, April 13 (from 7-10pm). If you survive the evening (this is Hitchcock we’re talking about) you can revisit the show, which remains on display until May 5. … Read More

Pop Culture

Hilarious Art Inspired by the Songs of “Weird Al” Yankovic

By Judy Berman on

New York may have the Whitney Biennial, the New Museum Triennial, and MoMA’s thoroughly worthwhile Cindy Sherman retrospective, but there’s still one art show that makes us awfully jealous of Los Angeles. Earlier this week, we brought you some wonderful wood etchings of Mitch Hedberg quotes from pop culture-obsessed Gallery 1988‘s comedy-themed Is This Thing On? exhibition. And now, the gallery has shared a set of nine prints commemorating the greatest hits of “Weird Al” Yankovic that will also appear in the show, which opens tomorrow with a reception hosted by none other than the master musical satirist himself. Click through to preview the Weird Al series, and decide which you’ll be purchasing when the prints go up for sale — at only $35 a pop — on Gallery 1988′s website Saturday. … Read More

Art

Wanted: Fantastic Wood Etchings of Mitch Hedberg Quotes

By Caroline Stanley on

Feel like your dwelling’s walls could use a little more personality? These minimalistic wood etchings of Mitch Hedberg quotes by Brooklyn-based artist and illustrator Kiersten Essenpreis, which we spotted thanks to Coudal Partners, should do the trick. They were created for the second installment of Gallery 1988’s Is This Thing On? comedy-themed group show, which opens at its Melrose location on Friday with a reception hosted by Weird Al Yankovic.

“Mitch suffered from almost paralyzing stage fright and often wore sunglasses while on stage, so he could close his eyes while speaking,” Essenpreis explains on her blog. “I thought about this a lot while sketching up ideas for my piece, and decided that a straight-forward portrait of Mitch would not suit him. To me, his words are really what he’d most likely prefer to be remembered for, so I tested out a new technique and created eight small, wood etchings of my favorite quotes.”

Click through to check out her work now, and preview pieces from a handful of the other 100 artists who are participating in the show over on Funny or Die. … Read More

Art

Gallery 1988 Plays with Pop Culture ‘Ghosts’ in Latest Exhibit

By Alison Nastasi on

Gallery 1988′s Ghost show ends in just a few days, but don’t pout if you can’t make it to sunny California before the exhibition closes on December 3 — we have a solution. Past the break are several of the clever works in the show that mashup everything from Pac-Man, ouija boards, and the iconic (ridiculous) scene from 1990′s Ghost, to The Sixth Sense and more. Click on to find out how Olly Moss, Scott Campbell, Rexbox, and Jon Klassen look at pop culture’s ghostly specters. Let us know which ones haunt you below. … Read More