zwolanerd

This weekend I made a 5-hour round trip to go see an art exhibit in Chicago. Normally I wouldn’t travel more than, say, 15 minutes to go to an art show that didn’t feature art by someone I knew, but I made an exception in this case because the art was all Ghostbusters-themed. Gallery nineteen eighty eight has a traveling exhibit in honor of Ghostbusters’ 30th anniversary. I didn’t really know what to expect (mostly because I didn’t click on as many things on their website as I should have, because that would have clearly explained it to me), but I ended up really enjoying it.

If you click on the 15 different tiles on the bottom of that page you can see some of the works available. I wasn’t sure just how many pictures I should take, so I didn’t take very many. There were framed pieces, some cross-stitch, many prints, and some sculptures/3D works (including a 7-ft. Slimer). What I didn’t realize before going in is that most of the works were for sale. The prices ranged from $10 to $4,000, and there were 3 or 4 in the $40 range that I would have liked to get. I settled on a $15 print of this:

I find that I enjoy the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man more than Slimer. I think they’re equally iconic, but he’s less gross.

While I enjoyed the art, I was more intrigued by the notion behind it. Is this something people do, take a classic movie and produce art inspired by it?  I’ve never heard of such a thing before, but I’m completely in favor of it. There were so many different takes on the source material that it made me want the gallery to be much, much bigger. I have several arty-type friends, and I think they produce things that could have been an excellent addition to the exhibit. I want this to be a thing that happens more, and it doesn’t even have to be with different movies, it could just be Ghostbusters, now and forever.

Your next (and maybe last) chance to see the exhibit is at San Diego Comic-Con, July 24-27.

Tags: Ghostbusters

Written by: Mark