“South Seas Popeye”–Chet Phillips
Hero Complex Gallery presents “Strong to the Finich! An Official Popeye Tribute Art Show” with an opening on Friday September 5th. I’m proud to be a part of this great event, celebrating the 85th anniversary of the squinty-eyed, spinach eating icon. The show is curated by Chogrin and is in collaboration with King Features Syndicate. My contribution (above) is titled: “South Seas Popeye.”
A Shop Called Quest presents a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” show with reception Saturday August 30th. My contribution is titled “Teenage Mutant Samurai Turtle.” The finished piece is a form of monoprint: Giclee print with gold leafing pen details added to enhance the yellow and orange details in the armor.
Gold foiling details on print (Click image to enlarge)
A Japanese translator was hired for the text integrated into image.
The folks at NerdLocker have offered up some preview of images from the Hero Complex Gallery’s “I Am the Law/A Life of Crime” show. Opening reception August 15th.
Hero Complex Gallery presents the show “I Am The Law/A Life of Crime” opening Friday, August 15th. The show pays tribute to both cops and criminals across a wide spectrum of films and pop culture. My submission draws upon the fond memory of my first viewing of “Bullitt.” Director Peter Yates’ iconic car chase down the hills of San Francisco was beautifully choreographed. The sequence was highlighted by Steve McQueen’s ultra cool demeanor as he confidently glided his Mustang GT over the paved hills and valleys in pursuit of the hitmen in their Dodge Charger.
If you’re in or around the Austin area next weekend, make time to attend the third annual Austin Craft Riot Summer Show. Packed with creative goodness, shop from among almost 70 unique local artist’s works. Located inside the air conditioned Austin Music Hall, it’s the perfect way to enjoy a summer weekend. Food trucks will be on hand, along with a DIY station, cash bar, gaming area and massage therapists. ChetArt will be a part of the fun, offering a wide variety of new merchandise.
Portfolio portrait gallery. Eight 5″ x 7″ portraits with stories on reverse.
The Gallery of Heroes is a collection of Eight Steampunk Monkey Nation personalities, presented in a paper portfolio case. Each 5″ x 7″ piece is printed on heavy duty linen card stock with portrait and gear on one side and short story on reverse. Portfolio label includes gold foil stamp detail and Steampunk Monkey Nation stamp on the back.
Set includes: Genevieve Octavia Starksparrow, Samson Meriwether Riddlewitte, Mordecai “Gunny” Gundersonne, Angus Wakefield McCrackendish, Cornelius Watson Pinionbolt, Penelope Lavinia Obscura, Calpurnia “Flywheel” Camberforge and Gabriel Warwick Thorncastle.
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ChetArt Booth in the Small Press Section
The 2014 San Diego Comic Con was a non-stop whirlwind of fun this year. With 4 hours of preview night on Wednesday and 4 full days through Sunday, we saw lots of familiar faces and made loads of new friends.
We arrived on Tuesday. From the front door of our hotel was a view of the swaying palm trees, the Assassin’s Creed display being set up and the convention center in the background.
Our hotel was designated as Terminus. Fortunately there were no train box cars behind the hotel that we were led to after checking in.
left to right-Cesare, Kirstie, Julie and the Pacific
The day before set up we took the opportunity to meet up with our good friends from Curio and Co., Cesare and Kirstie. Heading over to Ocean Beach, we enjoyed a burger at Hodad’s before a leisurely stroll on the pier to view the sunset over the water.
Attendance for the show maxes out at 130,000 and we saw our share of folks. Preview night started off strong for us. So strong we asked our neighbor and friend Jen Sorensen to ship us more product the next day. It was a good decision, as we would have sold all the “Childhood” books by Saturday if we hadn’t received her generous help.
Along with lots of sales, we had the pleasure of seeing long-time friends, fellow artists and loyal fans, topped with a surprise visit from April Winchell (who has no Regretsy(s) over retiring her wildly popular web site and concentrating on gracing us with her incredible voice work.) I was approached by several people with interest in some high profile projects. Stay tuned for those that may pan out in the coming months. Much to my surprise, my “Grumpy the Hutt” print that was purchased by our wonderful friend Jane Ezratty was then gifted to David Glanzer, the director of marketing and public relations for San Diego’s Comic Con International. The word came back to us that he considered it the best gift he’s received in ages. Here’s hoping it’ll fill a little bit of “NO!” on his wall somewhere. (A big thanks to Jane for gifting and Dustin Romero for passing along the news.)
What follows are a sampling of photos taken from the convention floor. Click each for a larger view.
Located in the Small Press Pavilion, Booth O-01 across from Oni Press
This year San Diego will be hosting its annual International Comic Con from July 23rd-July 27th, (preview night on the 23rd from 6PM-9PM.) ChetArt will be represented in the Small Press Pavilion in booth O-01 (across from the Oni Press booth.) This year’s offerings will include the Childhood book and prints from the series, the new playing card set titled Steam Ark, along with a trading card set version, vinyl stickers, a variety of tribute prints, new leather key chains and a lot more.
(Click Map to Enlarge)
July 18th marks the opening of Ltd. Art Gallery’s “Fantasy in the City” show. Artists will present their concepts of characters from various worlds of fantasy placed in modern day surroundings. My contribution (above) is titled “Sauron’s Raiders.” Visit the official Facebook event page HERE for more.
48 Page Book– 20 Color Illustrations with Text and Haiku Poems
“Childhood“ is a hand bound book of Japanese styled illustrations paying homage to nostalgic activities and toys. Each image showcases playful parodies of a variety of characters from films, TV and pop culture. This 48 page book contains 20 full color illustrations. Haiku poetry and reflections on youthful amusements accompany each piece of art. Written, illustrated and designed by Chet Phillips with binding created by Julie Sullivan of Dancing Cat Bindery.
The book measures 8.5″ x 11″ printed on 80 gloss text. Front and back covers are richly textured 100lb. Espresso cover stock with a window on front cover revealing a peek to the interior orange cover stock page. Each cover is gold foil stamped with Japanese characters (translates: childhood) and is sewn with a Japanese stab binding technique using green ribbon. The last two pages translate the Japanese titles and text within each illustration.
Gold foil stamp and cover window showing through to orange interior.
Character parodies represented in Childhood:
(Click Image Previews For More Info)
(Examples of the illustration’s translations, all available in the back of the book)
The Bride of Frankenstein poster by Mike Mignola.
Father’s Day is just around the corner. Shop from hundreds of items in the ChetArt online store for fun images Dads will love.
Previewed above, starting top left: Monkey Trek Monkey Wars Breaking Bad
The Big Lebowski Sanctuary Lord Cthulhu MST3K Attacks! The Wagging Dead
New series of prints from Mike Mitchell.
Hellboy piece from Daniel Nyari.
Now available: Ka-Pow! variant of Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro as Batman and Robin.
Byzantine series of pop culture icons from Fotis Varthis.
Olly Moss has created a terrific set of 30 characters from “Game of Thrones.”
With executive producer backing from Joel and Ethan Coen, the limited episode TV series “Fargo” is set to drop later this month. With new characters and crime to explore, I’m hoping the flavor of the original will shine through. Headlining the cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman and Colin Hanks. The movie “Fargo” is one of my favorites by the Coen brothers, mixing humor and darkness together for a truly original recipe. The trademark dialogue and catch phrases drew me to creating my tribute to the movie with Marge Gunderson, the sharp and level-headed protagonist, as the centerpiece.
Learn more about the upcoming series via the FX Networks web page.
Guzu Gallery in Austin presents its “Strange Beasts 2” show with a tribute to Godzilla, the king of the monsters. Each artist was asked to pair Godzilla off with the foe of their choice. My contribution, titled “Boss Battle,” matches Godzilla with King Kong for some fierce two player combat. Reception is Friday March 28th 7-10PM Click Here For The Austin Chronicle story
