LAST FUNNY OR DIE PREVIEW

Tonight's da night, dude. 7-11 PM - The work is hung. It all looks incredible.

We had our last [review at FunnyOrDie.com - so I figured I'd share it with you.



Jeff Boyes takes his shots at Clark Griswald (a.k.a. Chevy Chase). One of my favorite screenprints we've ever carried. This will be a hot ticket.



Travis Louie gives the one eye treatment to Brian Posehn. AMAZING.



Judd Apatow x Star Trek x Casey Weldon = genius.

DO NOT MISS OUT TONIGHT. I'll ridicule you if you do.

Jensen
G1988 (Melrose)

TONIGHT!

In just a few hours we will open Travis Louie's new show, "The Ghost Of Delilah And Other Stories," here at Gallery1988 (Melrose). It may be a solo show, but to see the numerous collaborations that Travis has produced, with some of your favorite names, is incredible. His largest show to date, this one will wow you.

Here are two sneak peeks before we open the doors at 7 PM PT.

Travis Louie x Greg Simkins

Travis Louie on his own...BUT is is a combination of his dog and actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

So you can see why I want to come by tonight, between 7-10 PM. Travis is gonna be here, so you can talk to him direct. And tonight we'll be selling the 1st edition of his book "Curiosities" (NOW SOLD OUT) for $20 ($10 0ff the cover price!!!!!).

Jensen

G1988 (Melrose)

Notice This Too!

With the upcoming Black Friday - December sale and the upcoming release of our first clothing collection, GK1988, you would think we couldn't humanly be readying an amazing show at Gallery1988 (Melrose) at the same time? Can we? Seems like too much for one to handle, right?

Well, you'd be wrong. Cause we're opening one of the year's most anticipated solo shows, right before the end of the year on December 2nd with Travis Louie's "The Ghost of Delilah and Other Stories." This show is going to blow your mind, especially since Travis, for the first time ever, will be collaborating with a group of artists for this exhibit. Most of that is still under wraps, but I was excited to see these two pictures in my inbox today.

As soon as I know more, so will you. But mark your calendars for this show - DECEMBER 2ND!

Jensen

G1988 (Melrose)

NEXT and new hours....

We're proud to announce our new show at G1988 (Melrose) (new name to make way for G1988 Venice, ya'll!). It's a solo show with the one and only Travis Louie. You may know him from the book we published of his work last year, "Curiosities," or you just may know him from being totally awesome. Either way, you'll have to come to his new show opening December 2nd, "The Ghost of Delilah and Other Stories," which will be his first solo at G1988.

More on Travis's show to come...

AND A SCHEDULING NOTE: Our gallery hours at Melrose will now be Wednesday - Sunday, 11 - 6 PM and we will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays. So you'll have all weekend to come check out the gallery now.

Jensen

G1988:LA

Announced

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to our Book Signing for the Travis Louie book, "Curiosities." Big success! Travis surprised all with some paintings and new sketches and some people went home with some Travis originals! Big thank you to Travis who did the whirlwind that is Comic-Con to promote the book, then drove with me and my girlfriend back to LA (he ate Jack in the Box for the first time) in order to partake in last night's events. When Katie and I wanted to do our first book, there was really no other option. Travis's paintings, and insanely cool character descriptions, were just a no-brainer for us. And we hope you all get to see the book and see how cool everything turned out. We do have some of our G1988 variant cover editions left (few, so act quick). These are super limited (we're selling less than 100), are signed by the artist and come with a free signed and numbered giclee print. $30. Same as the retail cover, which we have too! Call us up quick though if you want the 1988 cover, cause that's moving fast. (323) 937 - 7088.

That is our first book and our first partnership with Baby Tattoo. If you stopped by the Baby Tattoo booth during Comic-Con you realized what our second book is going to be. For those who weren't able to see it...



"Igneus Gero (The Book)" collecting the works of Luke Chueh, spanning 2003 - 2009. His first book!

And while we're on announcements, if you swung by the Mattel booth - you saw our other announcement, letting you know who 2010's "Under The Influence" honoree will be. This means that come January, over 100 artists will pay tribute to someone/something in their own styles. Past tributes to Walt Disney, Stan Lee and Beastie Boys have been huge successes. And sure to be falling right in line...



Gallery1988 & Mattel presents 

"Under The Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe"
January 2010

We're giving artists the opportunity to bring He-Man and the cast of characters up to 2010 and into their own styles! Hard to breathe while typing that. Big props to Alex Pardee who created Skeletor to celebrate the announcement, and supplied us with what is the first piece for the show. You just wait until you see what this show is going to be like...and what the gallery will look like. By the power of...

Jensen
G1988: LA
Jensen
G1988: LA

BOOK RELEASE AND SIGNING TONIGHT!

TONIGHT! Travis Louie's book, "Curiosities," published by G1988 and Baby Tattoo, is released here at Gallery1988: LA! You'll have the chance to also buy the G1988 variant, with the signed and numbered print. The party will run tonight, 6 - 9 PM, with Travis hanging out in-gallery the whole time!

STOP BY! Should be fun. LAST MINUTE UPDATE: SOME ORIGINALS WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM TRAVIS TONIGHT! YEAHHHH!

Also, I know a few people have been asking, the Greg Simkins painting that he did live here in the gallery - will be up for auction middle of August - and we'll show it all spiffy and finished around then. Just too much going on right now, both here and at Comic Con, to give it the right attention needed, so we can raise as much cash as possible for Cancer research.

SEE YOU TONIGHT!

Jensen
G1988: LA

Con and After

2 small announcements as you pack your hand sanitizer and start the trip to Comic Con. First, you can find out who the next honoree will be for our annual January Under The Influence show by visiting booth #3029. It's a pretty awesome announcement, and a pretty awesome little sign announcing it. We'll let you all know after the Con. AND when you stop by the Baby Tattoo booth #601 to check out the Travis Louie book we published with them, look for a collectable postcard announcing our next book. You'll even want the postcard. This one is gonna be HUGE. It's only 5 years in the making.

Soooo....you're not going to Comic Con? That's ok. You'll miss men and women dressed as their favorite Anime character, but you won't miss out on the release and ballyhoo of our first book (co-published by our friends at Baby Tattoo). At the Los Angeles gallery we will be having a release party for Travis Louie's book "Curiosities," where artist Travis Louie will be in the gallery signing books and meeting fans! This will be on Tuesday night, July 28th, from 6-9 PM. This will be your opportunity to buy the book and pick up the exclusive G1988 variant cover version, which will come with this giclee print below, "Pumpkin Eater," signed and numbered by the artist. This whole edition will have under 100 available and produced.



So with that, I ask you to keep walking and not hold up everyone behind you as you walk through Comic Con, cause some of us are fighting anxiety. And SEE YOU TUESDAY!

Jensen
G1988: LA

Lazy Monday

Well, it's supposed to be my day off today, but it's proving to be anything but. We've been selling through prints from Crazy 4 Cult 3-D, selling out of Bike and Trap from 2cents and The Professional print from Jeff Boyes. And although we're low on many other prints, and we're still selling paintings everyday, there are still some amazing pieces left. But you should act fast. Still check out the show, and the updated sales, HERE.

But, today I've dedicated mostly everything to the monolith known as Comic Con, which opens this Wednesday in San Diego.



There really isn't a picture in the universe that can give me a quicker panic attack, BUT this year I'll be there Saturday and Sunday - and G1988 has some pretty awesome presence in this year's con.

First off, our first book, partnered up with our friends at Baby Tattoo, will be released! "Curiosities," by NY artist Travis Louie will become available at Comic Con, purchasable in many ways and forms. Baby Tattoo's booth (#601) will be selling 2 of the 4 available covers (Retail and San Diego Comic Con variations), as well as having multiple signings with the artist Travis himself, so you can meet the man and get him to sign your book. The Baby Tattoo booth will also have a pretty cool opportunity to get a whole set of 4 covers, for those who buy fast! Travis will also be making appearances at Hi-Fructose's booth (#4939) and the Last Gasp booth (#1616) - two other places you can pick up the SDCC exclusive cover. And if you can't make it out to San Diego, don't worry, because we're having a book release and signing party on Tuesday with Travis Louie in attendance. More on that later.

Secondly, I do believe we'll be announcing our newest honoree for the Under The Influence art show happening in Jan. 2010. After last year's tribute to Beastie Boys, we've been excited to announce the newest source of inspiration involved, but we think SDCC will be the place! More on that later as well. Stay tuned to the blog for where to see the reveal!

And lastly, something totally secret. You won't know it's us. Yet. In due time.

Sorry to be so secretive. But we'll come clean in time. And we think you'll love it.

See you at the Con!

Jensen
G1988: LA

Book 'Em, Danno

Our first foray into book publishing, partnering up with our friends at Baby Tattoo, gets a sneak peek! The moment I saw Travis Louie's work a few years ago, accompanied by the incredible back stories he creates for each insanely detailed monster produced by his brain, I imagined what his book would look like. And here it is. "Curiosities" by Travis Louie is almost here! Stay tuned to this blog to find out more about its release, and a book signing at G1988: LA. So proud of this, and especially proud of Travis.



A quick story about Travis's work also. A friend had been on a bit of an art buying binge and was really hounding me for the "next big thing." It was quite early in Travis's gallery showing career, so he was an obvious suggestion I gave. My friend immediately bought a piece from Shooting Gallery in SF. A few weeks passed and I get a frantic call from my friend, angry about my suggestion. He said, "I just got this Travis piece and I'm mad at you." I asked why, confused, as I think every Travis piece is more mind-blowing than the previous piece I'd seen. He said, "DUDE, I don't buy digital pieces. He did this on the computer." I laughed and explained that Travis is a bit of an alien, and not to worry, everything you see is painted by hand - no matter how hard that is to believe. It was still difficult to convince my friend that these weren't digital illustrations, but at that moment, Travis became the first artist to confuse a buyer, who purchased, and was now staring at, a painting - and they still thought it was a computer generated piece.

Jensen
G1988: LA

I Get By

THANKS TO EVERYONE who came out last night to the opening reception of "Cackle Factory," and we want to personally thank Brandt Peters for putting together such an impressive collection for his debut LA solo show. I've always felt such a strong connection to Brandt and seeing him put so much effort into this, really just reaffirms my love for the man (no on Prop 8). And related, thanks to his wife, Kathie Olivas, for her help and her contributions to the show, as the collaborations were BIG hits last night.

For those who haven't seen the show, and don't live in LA, you can check it all out by CLICKING HERE. But if you do live in LA, we highly suggest stopping by the gallery. Maybe after your weekly stop at the Hot Wings spot across the street. I C U.

Also, small note about last night. It all felt very positive. I could argue that every show feels positive, but I'd kind of be lying. There were so many incredible artists there - Sas & Colin Christian (who flew in to LA for like 6 hours to be there and support), Nathan Spoor, Lola, Jenny Mollen, Travis Louie, Greg Simkins, Ruel Pascual, Misha, and more I'm sure I forgot right now. But they all were such a strong community last night. Even Dan May called during the show to say he wished he could be there. I think as time goes on, and we hit the 5-10 year mark of this scene (meaning the 25-35 year old artists not painting motorcycles) finally getting traditional art galleries to show this work - it will all work itself out and competition amongst everyone will seem so stupid. Everyone is finding their groove and everyone seems so happy about it.

Jensen
G1988: LA

Strange Days

The 4th of July has come and gone, hope everyone had a nice weekend...

It's supposed to be close to 100 degrees in San Francisco this entire week, which is totally nutty. The San Francisco gallery turns into a sauna, so we'll be sweating it out this week while we work on a new batch of prints to be released at the Crazy 4 Cult show this August. We're making prints of a few of the favorites from last year's show, hooray!

BUT in the meantime, we have an pretty insane show opening in SF on July 18th, which is right around the corner. The four artists in this new show are definitely a few of the most talented artists we've ever worked with... Joe Vaux, Travis Louie, Scott Scheidly and Brandt Peters. I feel a little intimidated just typing their names in this post. They're not only extremely talented, but all four of these guys are also incredibly nice - the complete package!

Here are a few images from the show...


Brandt Peters




Joe Vaux




Scott Scheidly




Travis Louie



The show titled "Strangely Mannered" opens Friday, July 18th. We'll have an online preview, so please email the SF gallery if you would like to be added to the preview list... gallery1988sf@gmail.com

Katie
G1988 San Francisco

Is it....or is it...?

Not sure if it's the Cabo sun, the 5 Bloody Marys I had today near the pool or just the overall giddiness of being on a vakay, but I want to show you Travis Louie's contribution for this year's 8-bit.



It's all based on the idea that Q-Bert was take into custody of a mental ward for his incesent hopping.

And yes, the work is THAT good for this year's exhibit. Until then though, I'm going back to bask in the sun.

Jensen
G1988: LA