by Gregory Bent
Moving forward, passing by the register, I was surprised to find that the gallery opened up into an almost “Fantasy Factory” like studio space in the back. This space housed the rest of the 23 pieces, couches for lounging, a complementary bar, and a projector that had X-files episodes playing on the back wall. In the background they, of course, had the eerie X-files theme playing.
Finally, back in the first room, opposite the 8 illustrations, was an arrangement of collectable items that any reader of this site would be excited to buy such as Hyrule themed playing cards, The Imperial Stormtroopers Handbook, and X-files themed coloring books. I , personally, had my eye on the “Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number” OST vinyl. One thing that surprised me was how reasonably priced some of the larger prints were. Standard poster sized prints would be priced around $50, which is a steal seeing as your getting something that’s on a limited run.
I spoke with the staff and they told
me that the gallery owners were fans of the show. What fascinated me was the
fact that each one of the pieces of art hanging on the wall was commissioned
for this show specifically. The gallery owners pick artists they like and have
them do prints for their upcoming shows.
While the event was not 21+, the majority of the crowd were
in their late 20’s to mid 30’s. Which makes sense seeing as how the show
was at the top of its popularity in the mid 90’s. It is safe to say that the
exhibit benefited from the shows new reboot on television, but there were no
specific promotional materials there telling me to “tune-in”. From the
conversations I had, the majority of the crowd really were die-hard X-files
fans. An hour and a half into the event, after the majority of people had
browsed all of the pieces; the gallery started selling a lot of their “collectible”
products. People lounged on the couches, drank Charles Shaw wine, and drank
foamy beer (their Pabst Blue Ribbon Keg wasn’t tapped properly). From the
conversations I had with attendees this was one Iam8bits’ smaller events with
one attendee stating that there is “usually a line around the corner” for the
complementary drinks.
Leaving the
show I realized that I had not given “The X-files” enough credit over my 26
years. The excitement surrounding the reboot was very much in the air. My
biggest take away was learning a little bit about the strong X-Files sub
culture in the Los Angeles community. This was definitely an experience for me,
and even though I am not the biggest x-files fan there was fun to be had by all
attending because Iam8bit does such a great job of hosting events such as these.
I left with one question ringing in my head “Do you believe?”
Ongoing until February 14
Iam8bit
2147 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90026
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