If you love art and pop culture, you don’t want to miss this show by Winchester, U.K.-based Olly Moss. (For Moss’ past work see his stellar Star Wars posters.) Moss has been called everything from a “creative genius” to a “one of the most influential pop culture artists today.” Why? By purposely working in themes like movies, television show, comics, video games and books, he’s able to instantly connect with and captivate a wide audience.
Shrouded in secrecy for months, this Gallery 1988 show called Paper Cuts, is Moss’ first solo art exhibition ever. Each piece was drawn, laser cut, mounted and framed. Incredibly, fans began lining the streets 24 hours beforehand to try and buy a Moss original. Judging from the artist’s recent tweet, all pieces have already sold out. “Totally crazy, was not expecting that at all!,” he says.
There’s a great interview over at Slashfilm where Moss talks about his style and his passion. Here’s my favorite quote from him that summarize it all:
“I don’t think I’m ever going to stop working with pop culture. I wouldn’t be interested in doing anything else really, I love it, it’s so much fun for me. I’m totally obsessed. But people always ask how you justify doing work with pop culture. And it’s kind of a pretentious justification but if you look at classic art, a lot of it is religious and mythic iconography and symbolism. Now a days it’s a similar thing. It’s just instead of having Hercules, Athena and Apollo it’s Darth Vader and Optimus Prime. More stuff that you recognize, stuff that you have an instant connection with, stuff that stands for the same concepts.”
Make sure to check out the show before it ends on May 20, 2011.
Gallery 1988
7020 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Hours:
Wed – Sun: 11 AM – 6 PM
Mon & Tues: Closed
Photo credits: Slashfilm, The Fox is Black, and Craig or cshimala on Flickr