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New York City Attractions: High Line Park New York, Hudson Yards & More
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Family Living in Long Island City for NYC Kids
New York City Attractions: High Line Park New York, Hudson Yards & More
Family Living in Long Island City for NYC Kids
The annual Crazy 4 Cult art show is based on such a cool, simple idea, it’s no wonder it’s developed a huge, uh, cult following in Los Angeles, where for five years in a row Gallery 1988 on Melrose asked dozens of artists to create a piece (or two, or whatever) based on their favorite cult movie. Could be any medium or style, could be a character, or an iconic scene, could be a mash-up of two or more cult movies, doesn’t matter: take something cult-movie-y, and create art. As you can imagine, the results have been pretty wild, and all over the aesthetic map. And the reason why we’re telling you all of this is: this year, Gallery 1988′s Crazy 4 Cult is taking place right here in the great city of New York, in a pop-up space on Gansevoort just above the West Village in the Meatpacking district, right near the southern end of the High Line.
Art of Cult Classic Movies on Display for Crazy 4 Cult
We went to Crazy 4 Cult NYC on opening day (but not for the opening reception, held last Thursday night and which the Gallery 1988 people told us was INSANE crowded, with lines around the block to get in), and had a great time looking at the nearly 300 different pieces by some 200 different artists. We even bought a piece of art! A handful of movies are well represented as launching points for the usually-wry, cartoony pieces: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Princess Bride, The Shining, Escape From New York, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (upon which our purchase was inspired; Joe Van Wetering’s Free Cameron print, above… only $25!), The Big Lebowski, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Goonies, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Part of the fun is guessing the cult film before reading the “caption”; most are pretty easy, some fiendishly clever.
For example, Forever and Ever and Ever, Cate Rangel’s riff on the twins in the Overlook Hotel; Ruel Pascual’s hilarious mash-up of My Neighbor Totoro and Donnie Darko; David Soames “Oompaball” by David Soames, in which the Oompa Loompas bat around the blown-up, blueberried body of Violet Beauregarde; the group Goonies shot, Never Say Die, by Monkey Inc Design; Mick Minogue wooden wall sculpture “100% Utah”, depicting a number of scenes from Point Break (including the Nixon-masked bank robbery, natch); Too Cool For School, Julian Callos’s portrait of the adolescent bad-asses of Battle Royale and Kill Bill: these are all cute/funny/fun. As is most of Crazy 4 Cult NYC. And although by no means did all of the works here appeal to our personal sensibility, the exhibit as a whole is well worth seeing, especially if you’re going to Meatpacking District for, say, a stroll and picnic on the High Line.
Crazy 4 Cult NYC is located in Gallery 1988′s pop-up on Gansevoort Street, between Greenwich and Washington, and is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Runs through Saturday, September 1. More information and a look at all of the art work, here.
