Crazy 4 Kate Kelton's Cult Culture

Kate Kelton pointing to her work at Gallery 1988’s Crazy 4 Cult pop-up show. (Photo: Glory Simon)

Gallery1988 is an LA-based pop culture art gallery. On Thursday, I attended the opening of their very first New York show, Crazy 4 Cult, and the line was around the block of the Meatpacking District pop-up. Fans actually slept overnight to hold their place in line. Fortunately, participating artist / actress Kate Kelton was there to let me in, saving me hours of waiting.

To get a feel for the culture here, Kate is among the 200 artists in the show. She is known as the personality behind the prolific Tic Tac ads over the past decade, and as one of the twins from Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, but that will change starting Thursday and Friday, August 16 & 17, when the IFC series Bullet in the Face premieres. In the show, she plays, “a pretty fabulous femme fatale,” alongside co-stars Eddie Izzard and Eric Roberts in what is being billed as “the most violent sitcom ever.”

Kate’s work in the Gallery1988 show—like the rest of the art—references cult film. I had a brief exchange with gallery co-owner Jensen Karp and learned how he creates so much interest in his openings.

stated: What do you feel creates such a buzz for your shows? And why does this opening feel like I’m at Comic Con?!

The line to see Gallery 1988’s Crazy 4 Cult opening in New York City (Photo: Kate Kelton).JENSEN KARP: I think the draw for our shows is that we’ve been in Los Angeles now for over eight years and really nurtured the themed group show as the first real pop culture-focused art gallery. It’s become a real celebration of geekdom and art, and the traffic on our website can get pretty crazy. The idea of bringing the celebration to a new city, and allowing some of the site visitors to actually see the work in person and get involved, seemed to be the thing everyone who camped out talked about with us. It’s something they’ve been watching from afar and now they get to participate with us.

The crowd at Gallery 1988’s Crazy 4 Cult opening. (Photo: Kate Kelton.)For our collectors, first in line just promises them the limited edition work they want. You never know what will sell out first, and the few-hour wait they endure makes sure they get what they want. I’m not sure I would be able to do it if I were our customer, but we love them for it.

And yeah, we’re pretty much one and the same with the Comic-Con goer. We’ve done tons of stuff at Comic-Con in the past, last year bringing our marketing campaign with Breaking Bad to the convention floor.

—-

Check out Bullet in the Face on IFC this Thursday and Friday, August 16 & 17. Check out the Crazy 4 Cult show online or stop by the pop-up show in New York city through September 1:

Gallery1988 Crazy 4 Cult NYC Pop-up
64 Gansevoort Street, NY, NY
Hours: Wed-Sun, 11am-6pm
August 9 - September 1, 2012
Wednesday thru Sunday - 11am to 6pm