Time to forgo the forwards in these art books. Crazy 4 Cult: Cult Movie Art 2 has Seth Rogen and Great Showdowns: The Return has Edgar Wright, they cobbled some words together and it was nice enough of them to do so, but their words are meaningless to get you into these two wonderful collections very much connected. Not only from the same publisher and under the same label, but the owners of Gallery 1988, Jensen and Katie use one of Scott Campbell's drawings of themselves in their introduction in their book Crazy 4 Cult 2. Scott C. is a frequent artist of Gallery 1988 and if you've read the site he's been at the Nucleus gallery often too. Both books are reminders of pop culture and past loved films.
Gallery 1988, a frequently written about gallery on this site has another collection based on one of it's most popular exhibitions, Crazy 4 Cult. So many different exhibits happen each year in the gallery, it might have been easier to simply make a giant catalog and break down the art by film or artist in a giant collectible. Instead we have a coffee table book that makes you want to see if they still have any of the pieces as prints or if you can find them online on eBay.
Artists like Glen Brogan, Chogrin, Andrew Wilson, Jude Buffum and Scott Listfield fill it's pages with eye-catching work based on movies and they're some of my favorite artist. I've enjoyed their work so much that I've interviewed them all in the past, many because they were featured in Gallery 1988 shows, sometimes at the gallery.
For those who missed on the shows and didn't check the Internet when Super Punch posted on them, instead of going outside, does that guy ever go outside? Anyway, this collection covers a huge medium of different styles and artist all trying to make you remember a past cult classic.
Some piece might be of just a small part of the movie that stands out like a icon today, like McFly's hoverboard from Back To The Future. Then you have piece by Glen Brogan "Marty's Room" that never took place in any of the films that catches the heart of the films. McFly is just chilling in his room playing on his NES with the Doc with his girlfriend reading a book on his bed. It's like a tender scene you wished happened.
Pieces can get surreal to looking live video game versions, many nodes to Jude Buffum, to realistic to cartoony. Some piece look better than the films their remembered from.
What it shows is that those films touched those artists. Touched them in many different ways and they want to recognize them as a piece of culture that stays with us.
The convoluted "Paths of Doom" by Andrew DeGraff makes a map of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, it must have taken multiple views to craft such a piece of art linking together scenes so well.
Sight-gags and close-ups, questions answered as to what happened after key-scenes in films answered by artists on page after page. I guess the Alien would just keep drifting. Films remembered as cartoons or its cast as animals. Posters based on films within the films or new takes on scenes others might have found pointless.
All of it captured it one book making you remember some of your favorite cult movies or making you want to invest time in watching some new ones on Netflix.
This book does better than the one below giving you the movies each piece comes from.
Great Showdowns: The ReturnAs I've written every time artist Scott Campbell is brought up, he's art should be the preview art in Netflix and other online services instead of the awful DVD and sometimes VHS box art put up to preview a film. Scott's technique for creating a piece is simple. Remember a scene from a movie draw to opposing characters and put smiles on their faces. *Sometimes make an object alive, give it tiny feet and hands and also a smile.
Scott doesn't go for the top films always. The extra effort to go after some hard to remember films will give you a flash in your brain. You'll close your eyes or some other idiosyncrasy when you recall the film then laugh that he even brought it up.
The piece for Drive, an elevator opening up with a grin on it made me ponder how sick Scott is. See the film as to why that's a dark joke.
A Muppet's Christmas Carol isn't the most memorable confrontation yet Scott brings it up. Once again this book might be fun as a party game for movie buffs. Figuring out Troll 2, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Air Bud out of his cute cartoony watercolor art style makes for a fun look into movie memories.
The book maybe should have come with titles underneath each piece, but then I wouldn't have had the fun looking at Hellraiser next to Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil and wondering if anyone else would get it.
