REVIEW - 1988

  1988 on Melrose Ave in West Hollywood is a fun and vibrant gallery.  There were two rooms and two separate shows at 1988 when I visited.  The first titled ‘The 90s!’ was a group show with pop culture works paying homage to the the 1990’s and the second was a phenomenal solo show of sports trading cards by Cuyler Smith titled, ‘Trading Cards 4.’

   The group show was quirky and alternative. For a collection of work about products and pop icon’s of the 90’s all the familiar faces were there; David Duchovny, Drew Barrymore, Tiffani Amber Thiessen, Keanu Reeves.

   I enjoyed the retro ‘iMac G3 -circa 1994’ sculptural pins by Miranda Dressler, and thought they were one of the best pieces in the show.  A series of shopping receipts by Eleanor Wells was also quite thoughtful.  One of the only pieces in the show that wasn’t blatantly poppy but had more depth and concept.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the starry air-brushy, Scully and Mulder painting, but the custom receipts from an era long gone where alluringly haunting.  It was a minute record of the past, faked, and yet it still stirred a memory.  A spot on experience, that stood out amongst the other works in the room.

   In the adjacent room was a collection of limited edition sports cards prints signed by the artist.  Upon entering the room it takes a moment to realize that these are no ordinary sports heroes cards.  They were characters from sports movies, given MLB style portraits and stat cards, signed and framed by a cheeky artist.  Similar to the Trojan Horse, your mind realizes these aren’t athletes but actors’ portraits.  It was fun to see the format of card collecting flipped upside-down and introduced to the fine art and film world.  It was very fitting for the West Hollywood location and the young, alternative gallery space.  The works touch on two worlds of collecting, card collectors and art collectors.  The subject is an anomaly as they are rare limited prints, of sports ’characters’ who have very few sports cards if any in the first place.  I was thrilled to see collectables of Tom Cruise as Maverick from Top Gun and Arnold Schwartzenegger as Ben Richards from Running Man. 

   I highly recommend ‘Trading Cards 4’ by Cuyler Smith.  The show may be over but collect their work, follow their social media, and check out their website for really cool stuff. As always, check Sharks Eat Meat daily for art and culture news.

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