Jon Smith “Is This Thing On?” Show Poster

$20.00
poster
18 x 24 inches
Commemorative show poster
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“IS THIS THING ON?”

Comedian-Themed Art Exhibit

January 7 – 29, 2011

Gallery 1988: Melrose

Los Angeles, CA

Although we loved it when we first came across Tim Doyle‘s “Murray Times 6 print (January of 2009), paying tribute to various time-period’s of the actor’s career, we still chalked it up as one of those great one-off ideas.  The piece held such an immediate appeal that it was surprising that no one had attempted it sooner.  Like calling “shotgun!” or an ingeniously timed mama joke, it was difficult not to appreciate the concept that the artist simply “got to it first“.   The crazy thing is that, Doyle actually didn’t get to it first.  At least a year prior to that, another artist by the name of Jeff Boyes had already both created and sold-out of another Murray print; this time, paying tribute to the title character from the Wes Anderson film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.  I doubt they were even the first one’s to have taken on the comedian as their muse, but it was hard to fathom that there could be much more life-blood left, if any, in regards to creating Bill Murray-focused art pieces.  When Los Angeles‘ Gallery 1988 held their CRAZY4CULT group exhibit last June, however, Todd Slater‘s RUSHMORE inspired piece helped to discount that notion.  Then, in September, another L.A.-based gallery, the R&R, held an entire exhibit dedicated to “Mr. Bill Murray” (perhaps, you remember our preview for that show).  Less than a month later we found ourselves, yet again,  posting even more Murray-related works, with our preview of Spoke Art‘s ridiculously amazing Wes Anderson-themed “Bad Dads” group exhibit at San Francisco‘s Lopo Gallery (feat. work by both Doyle and Slater).  Even more surprising than the fact that everyone’s favorite Ghostbuster keeps popping up in the artwork of so many talented artists, is the fact that, rather than becoming an increasingly worn-out and tiresome subject, the work actually seems to be getting more and more impressive.  Much of this anomaly can be easily attributed to the benefit of group shows to provide variety through the numerous artists’ individual styles and interpretations.  Still… by this point, this metaphorical dead horse should have pretty much had its skull crushed in and been transformed into Elmer’s and gelatin, right?  Wrong! We recently came across an amazing original acrylic and wood Caddyshack-inspired piece by artist, N.C. WINTERS that just might take the cake.  When you consider that the painting, “Wisdom of the Lama“, was created as part off the 3rd group exhibit to feature a Bill Murray image that we’ve covered in the last 6 months, it can seem a bit excessive.  However, by giving little more than a quick glance to the example pieces in Gallery 1988‘s current “Is This Thing On?” exhibit, it should become instantly clear that the Melrose venue’s present curation provides plenty of inspired work. Work that is worthy of any art/comedy/film/pop-culture enthusiasts full attention. Read the rest of this entry →