Step Brothers

Here's my piece for the Step Brothers art show that opens tonight at Gallery 1988 Venice.
/Film just used it for their preview of the show.

My favorite thing about this movie is the name of Will Ferrell's character, "Brennan." I find this hilarious because it demonstrates how odd it is for a grown man to have such a kiddie, cutesy name. People of my age group are at the point now where they are having kids and settling down, and every time I hear about a baby with name like this it always makes me think "You realize they're going to be 40 at some point, right?" A name that makes a kid sound like he's the cutest one in sunday school may not be great when he's trying to climb the corporate ladder.

ANYWAY, if you're in the area head to Gallery 1988 and check out the show!

Breaking Bad

Here's my piece for the Breaking Bad art show that opened this week at Gallery 1988. When they asked me to be part of an official collaboration with one of the best shows on television, how could I say no? This is another one of those things that I am just ecstatic to be a part of.

I remember way back during the first season of the series I had a friend who raved about it, insisting that all our friends give it a chance. I knew that it was about a guy who cooked meth, so I was curious about why it would be so highly recommended since drugs aren't usually a topic I'm interested in. It turns out that focusing on the drug aspect isn't really the point; the show is just a quality, entertaining, and amazingly well written program. It's better than most film dramas I've seen in the last few years.

When I got to the episode where Walt climbs down into the secret crawlspace and finds some of his money missing, I fell in love with that shot and I knew I had to use it for my piece. Something about the visual of him lying in the dirt underneath his house while the camera zooms out through his ordinary-looking closet was so cool to me. It felt like sort of an iconic moment of the series.

A couple of websites have covered the show (the artwork may include some spoilers):

Flavorwire.com
HuffingtonPost.com
Fastcocreate.com
SCPR.org
LAist.com

And here's a photo of some of the cast at a special pre-opening party!

I would post a link to my print in the G1988 store, but it has already sold out! Thanks everybody!

Night of the Exquisite Corpse

This weekend was the opening of Night of the Exquisite Corpse, an art show that features zombie-themed paper toys, hosted by Light Grey Art Lab in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I've loved designing paper toys ever since i got hooked on making Cubees for Cubeecraft.com, so this sounded like a fun show to be a part of.

I chose to base my design on Schrödinger's Cat, the famous thought experiment in which a cat trapped in a box is simultaneously alive and dead. My thinking was that this would technically make him a zombie, right? I had a lot of fun designing him, especially the cut-out piece of his head and the cardboard box that opens to show his guts.

All of the pieces for this show are amazingly well done, and you can check them out here on a very cool website that lets you view each zombie by artist or mix and match their parts.

And finally, you can buy your very own Schrödinger's Cat paper toy right here! Put him together and love him to death!

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Arcade

This is my second piece for Gallery 1988's Crazy 4 Cult NY, based on the movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. When the gallery sent me the list of cult films that artists could use as inspiration, I was so happy to see that Scott Pilgrim had been added this year. I knew I had to do a piece for it.

I guess it makes sense that Scott Pilgrim would be considered a cult film, but this was the first time I had ever thought of it that way. Indeed, it is an excellent movie with a strong fan base that didn't make a huge splash at the box office. When the movie was released I was sorry that it didn't do so well, but at the same time it's easy to see how such an unusual concept wouldn't be for everybody. I think most people just had no idea what it was and plunked down their two bits to see something else. It is an amazing film, though, and you can really tell that director Edgar Wright loved the source material and wanted to pull out all the stops when adapting it for the big screen.

Even though this piece needed to be a tribute to the movie, I'm also a giant fan of the comics so I knew I couldn't just throw the look of the books completely to the wayside. I tried to combine the visuals of the comics with old school arcade cabinet art since the story takes place in a video game universe, and because I've always loved the aesthetics of vintage video game promotional materials.

My other C4CNY piece has sold out, but you still can buy a print of this one right here from Gallery 1988!

Marty's Room

Last week was the debut of Gallery 1988's first ever east coast show: Crazy 4 Cult NY. I was really excited to be able to attend the opening reception and see all the amazing work, plus I was finally able to meet some fellow artists I've admired for a long time now.

This is one of my pieces for the show, "Marty's Room," which is of course based on Back to the Future. The prints have already sold out, and I didn't realize until I spoke to some folks at the show that it was getting a lot of internet attention. So thank you to everybody who bought a print or found your way to my site because of this piece!

Some photos I took at the reception:

And here are some of the sites I've found that have mentioned my piece:

streetsofbeige.blogspot.com
mrmanager.tumblr.com
slashfilm.comthejuanreyes.tumblr.com
http://www.it8bit.com/post/29011961575/martys-room
pinterest.com
screenrant.com
icanhascheezburger.com

So thanks to all those sites as well!

Paranorman Posters Followup

A few weeks ago I wrote about the poster I designed as part of an official campaign for the upcoming stop-motion movie ParaNorman. Placed at various locations across the country, those who find the posters are allowed to take them down and keep them. Last week Cartoon Brew did a piece about them, giving me my first ever mention on the king of animation blogs! I was extremely excited to see my name mentioned in their writeup, which you can check out here.

I've also been trying to hunt down photos of the posters in the wild. Here's what I have so far, all taken from various sites and Twitter pages:

 I believe this is Tucker Albrizzi, voice of the character Neil