Recap In A Box

So the smoke has cleared, and we're catching up on paperwork from our "Idiot Box" 5-year Anniversary show, which opened last Thursday night. A total success, the gallery was busy from 7 - 11 PM - and we couldn't be happier with the artwork delivered for this show. And we couldn't thank our host, Dennis "Mr. Belding" Haskins enough. Dennis was more than happy to take photos and sign autographs (on headshots we made for the man, customized by artist Andrew Wilson). Katie's inner-geek was also happy to see Chelsea Handler stop by. Lots of incredible pieces are still available, as well as a group of show specific prints, and you can see these by CLICKING HERE. Here are some pictures from opening night...



The obligatory line/crowd shot.



And now the other angle. What I like to call the "Belding Perspective."



Here's Dennis with gallery assistant, Aileen.



Dennis meeting Andrew Wilson, the sneaky fellow who went to town on Haskins' headshot for the flyer and night's autograph opportunity.



Artist Mark Bodnar, who's LOST inspired piece was "tweeted" about earlier in the day by Kevin Smith, hangs with collector Aris, who left his normal surroundings of NY to hang.



In this bromance, I sort of feel like Andrew is Brody Jenner and I kinda won some crappy TV show to hang with him a few times.



Artist Mylan Nguyen with her TMNT inspired girls. She also got a rather incredible autograph from Mr. Belding that you might not expect a high school principal to partake in. Yeah, that happened!



Artist Brandon Sopinsky stands near his nerd dream mash-up of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" and "Watchmen."



A gallery patron stares into Rachel J. Wong's TV piece, and like an episode of Rock of Love, you can't change the channel.

This show will be open through April 23rd, so stop by!!!! We also want to thank all the places who covered the show including G4, LA Weekly, AintItCool, Flavorpill, JoshSpear.com, TheOriginalWinger.com, OMG Posters and everybody else I can't think of right before I get ready to go into the gallery.

Jensen
G1988: LA

We Are Saved

(click to see bigger)

Here it is. An update I've basically been waiting 5 years to press "Publish Post" on.

We opened Gallery1988 (now known as Gallery1988: LA) 5 years ago in April on the corner of Melrose and La Brea (the same location it stands today). When we first opened one early passerby wished us good luck, since LA was "basically an art mafia that would be hard to break." This person wasn't being rude, just letting us know. Which we thanked him for. But we knew we were opening the gallery basically to make fun of that Art Mafia. The galleries taking themselves so serious, showing the same low-brow motorcycle, babes with skulls, artwork year after year or the venues selling "blue chip" artwork for insane amounts of money when the actual artwork didn't speak directly to anyone (besides being told it was "an investment'). Our goal was to bridge a gap. Katie's background was in USC Art History and Christie's Auction House, while I just knew I'd buy a painting of Super Mario Bros. We wanted to create affordable artwork that spoke to our generation. And now 5 years later...the fact that we're still here, in the same location, is totally crazy to us. And people seem to like our off-base approach to shows. So, it is my pleasure to announce our 5-year Anniversary show.

"Idiot Box" will feature almost 100 artists depicting their favorite television guilty pleasures. The shows you can hardly admit you love, but in all honesty, you LOVE the shit out of them. And yes. On April 2, the night of the opening reception, Dennis "Mr. Belding" Haskins will be hosting the extravaganza to not only celebrate the Gallery's milestone, but also the 20th Anniversary of Saved by the Bell! "Diff'rent Strokes." "Small Wonder." "Double Dare." "Flava of Love." It basically doesn't stop.

It's the theme show I've always wanted, but wasn't sure we could actually do.

Stay tuned to the blog for updates, artist lists and sneak peeks. This is going to be a seriously insane art show.



Mr. Belding poster by Andrew Wilson.

Jensen
G1988: LA