Our First Gallery1988 Group Show: 25 Years Later
A few months ago, I told Michelle that I’d like the opportunity to show work at Gallery1988, one of the most talked about pop culture galleries in California. Michelle looked at me like I was nuts. Full disclosure, she always looks at me that way. Maybe she’s right. Doesn’t matter. We managed to get a spot in Gallery1988’s current show, so who’s crazy now?
25 Years Later (1998) celebrates the movies of 1998. Can you name any of them off the top of your head? I couldn’t. But the list includes cinematic gems such as Saving Private Ryan, You’ve Got Mail, The Big Lebowski, The Truman Show, The Wedding Singer, and everyone’s favorite, Slappy and The Stinkers.
With all of those (and many more choices) Michelle and I found ourselves at odds. She thought we should make a diorama of the Michael Keaton holiday film, Jack Frost. It’s the tale of a father who comes back from the beyond to inhabit the body of a snowman and offer his family one final farewell.
Me? I wanted to make a diorama of Blade. This movie about a vampire hunter (played by Wesley Snipes) was really the first big Marvel Superhero blockbuster. It’s a fun action-horror flick and I thought it deserved its own piece in the show.
But no. We couldn’t come to a consensus here at the studio. We were at an impasse. And then, in my third or fourth viewing of Blade (for reference) I found a loophole that would allow both Michelle and I to make the dioramas we wanted.
You see, in Blade, Wesley Snipes’ character defeats a villainous vampire named Frost. FROST! After that finally sunk into my thick skull, the wheels started turning. And I realized that maybe he wasn’t the only supernatural creature named Frost that Blade the Day-Walker would have to battle. Jack Frost!
So, our diorama project — already a battle between the two of us — became a battle on the workbench between these two cinematic icons. Blade versus Jack Frost. The double-diorama is up on the Gallery 1988 website now, along with a lot of other fantastic artwork that I encourage you to check out.
So, who would really win in a battle between Blade and Jack Frost? Are you part of the Jack Pack? Or the Blade Brigade? Maybe it would end in a draw as it did with Michelle and I. If you want to see how it all came together, you can watch our process video below.