I went to the second I am 8-bit show at Gallery 1988 http://www.nineteeneightyeight.com/ last week. The show is art inspired by old video games http://iam8bit.net/ . On Saturday they were having a book signing by many of the artists involved. 1988 is on Melrose and close to my house, so I went along and had a good time...and told a few of the artists about Skullbrain.

1988 is run by Katie and Jensen, and they are nice and friendly, and the artists who turned up were also very cool. The setup seemed weird for a gallery, but functional - two long tables with various book contributors sat along each. Probably 25 or so artists dutifully signed and drew in peoples books. One lunatic couple had a stack of books and made the guys sign each and everyone. The line kind of backed up whenever they were around - I made a joke about how many books they had - they weren't laughing!

Anyway, it got nice and sweaty in there as the night progressed. The year before the show hadn't attracted such a crwod, but this year the audience for this kind of art has dramatically increased, so by an hour in, the line was literally out of the door. I got there early, but as artists joined late, if u wanted a signature u had to line up again...but it was a nice atmosphere. No bar though! No bar! I'm not a drinker, but something about a free beer makes me want to drink. I talked my way into a free Corona though

One thing I noticed is that the geek quotient was high enough to remind me of a less stinky comic convention line rather than a hip art show. Strangely enough, that was just fine by me.

Here's some pics:

The setup:


Some of the art (check the site for more pics if u need 'em):


Sweaty fans line-up to have body parts signed and fondled (I made this bit up):


Nice guy Jled signs a fan's breasts and then their book (guess which part of this sentence is true?):


Luke Chueh does his thing and signs my book:


Daniel Peacock in another nice guy scenario:


Bob Dob and Craola draw on Kung Fu sketch book:



Thomas Han, talented, rocking and...yes, again...super nice and friendly as he always is. P.S. This is the last of, like, 8 books that Edward Bay and his misssus Edwina Bay had with them. Thomas smiled all the way as each book was thrust at him by the humorless duo:


The kids can't believe it, WTF? they say, as no one throws a tantrum, no shit gets fucked up and nothing bad happens...at all: