Wandered.

So it's my birthday. Yup. I turn 29 today, which I have been joking will be my last year of relevance. All those fresh ideas at the gallery will be gone in 365 days when I become just another 30 year old, out of touch and critical of "young people." Like the 50 year old woman wearing Ed Hardy. That will be me, female and all. Well, we always have Katie. She has another few years.

Friday night was our Greg Simkins solo show opening for "It Wanders West," and I was lazy enough to steal some pictures from arrestedmotion.com of the festivities, which were packed from opening to closing.



If you look close, you can find Waldo.



Greg Simkins and The Gauntlet and his fresh custom made I'm Scared Bat ring.



Greg was there all night, signing more autographs than Elvira on Halloween. SEE! My references are already outdated! Elvira? Guessing Lon Chaney Jr. seemed too obscure.

The show basically sold out during preview, leaving only one painting behind, which is strange cause it's REALLY good. So I figure that will go too. Good to see a lot of artists come out to support too, as I caught Travis Louie, Luke Chueh, Brandon Bird, Brandon Sopinsky, Jeff Ramirez, Lola and Nathan Spoor amongst the viewers.

I could try to sum up how important Greg and his wife Jenn are, not only to the gallery, the creative motivation of Katie and I, our reputation and the amount of fun we have here yearly, but also just in our everyday personal lives. I still can't believe both how this all started as a gallery/artist dynamic - and where it's ended up. I mean, we always knew Greg would be incredibly successful, as he's not even reached the peak we know he's going to get to yet. But for things to actually align. For things to actually work out. For the good guy to have won. That just doesn't always happen. And it did for Greg Simkins. There is no artist in the universe who deserves this success more than Greg. I stand by that. But even more important than his success the other night - Jenn and Greg get their first vacation in 4 years sometime in 2009 and I feel like that's the GREATEST thing I have ever heard. Between all the painting, preparation, child birth and overall chaos they've seen in the short rise to art fame - they haven't had time to themselves. Thank you two so much. I'm not sure where not only our gallery would be without you, but not sure where I would be as a person. Have a great vacation in Detroit, guys. (I kid).

And that leads us to December at G1988. What we're calling the "Holiday Print Bonanza." You already know Luke Chueh's "Honey Bear" drops in December, but just wait till you see what's rolling out! Gonna be good times for our Epsons.

And Gallery 1988 is proud to announce "Without You I'm Just Me" - our next art exhibit, opening Dec. 9th, 2008, featuring the artwork of Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) and Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes). These two have collaborated on some GREAT art, and put together some of their own individual pieces for display - as well as all sorts of goodies for the exhibition. Both artists will be in attendance, and we've really been looking forward to this show for quite some time. More this next week!



And now to go eat birthday cakes...

Jensen
G1988: LA