When cars go past Meltdown they might look up to see the glowing neon or what's in the window. On Friday night, March 6, they caught glimpse of a DeLorean. Back to the Future: A 2015 Art Tribute opened to fans of the series that starred Micheal J. Fox as Marty and Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown who went on adventures through time. It's a classic film that fans have enjoyed time and again and has a soft spot in out hearts. To celebrate a suped-up DeLorean was out front to take photos with, while inside the Nerdist Showroom fans could enjoy tribute art and opening night free beer. Though we never saw any Doc Browns, there were fans dressed up as Marty roaming the gallery, but none were checking their watches.
Nico Calelo, a big man with glasses and the curator of the show, talked about his opening night at Meltdown with us, after being pulled away from some of his friends. "This place is packed, it's like a can of sardines, " Nico said. He scheduled the DeLorean out front from Hollywood Cars eight months earlier, talk about timing. Another fan parked one in back. On his favorite work, Nico said, "I particularly like the work of Valerie Kaiser, she did a quilt...she sewed the bumper from the back of the DeLorean." I asked him how long it took her. He guessed a few weeks. Then I asked Nico if there was anything from the film series he wished was real, other than the time machine. After a minute of thought he had to ask a friend nearby, who gave him the idea, "Hoverboard, dude! 'The hoverboard, the obvious choice," he said.
Another fan, Aaron Lars, was enjoying the show because a few of his friends had pieces were in the show. "I like the movies, I like my friends and I like cool art, " Aarron said on why he was attending the show. "The pieces from Fleica Puentez are really good, because the characters are standing so sass-ily."
That tribute art was accompanied with a Japanese like a poster done by Ekaterina Oloy and a gender-bent vision by Whitney Avalon of Doc and Mary as ladies. These pieces were only a small part of the many different takes from the 88 artists involved. 88, for the speed a DeLorean needs to speed up to to break the barrier into time travel.
Back to the Future: A 2015 Art Tribute see it until March 14 on display at Nerdist Showroom at Meltdown Comics at 7522 Sunset Blvd.
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