



Click images to enlarge

Saturday night I had the great opportunity to attend the opening of Olly Moss’ first solo exhibit at Gallery 1988, which I’m pretty sure is titled Paper Cuts. Before the show opened though, it was a secret as to what the hell he’d be exhibiting. It turns out he was creating cameos of pop culture icons, done only as Olly could do. I was speaking to a few friends about the exhibit, and we think it could have been boring, if say, he had done 50 or so. You’d easily identify what was on the walls and walk out. But no, he chose to make (I believe) 352 pieces in total, so you were completely absorbed by all of his pieces, trying to identify them all as you walked around the room. The effect was astounding.

Olly is such a pop junkie, and the references on the walls are all over the place. You can see in the photos above that some of the images were straightforward, but then you’d have the Reservoir Dogs in their signature colors, or Bruce Willis from Die Hard in a frame with broken glass. His tendency to be clever and inventive was in full effect. I think it’s also interesting to mention that Olly is relatively an internet based artist, so it was exciting to see his show be such a huge hit. When Kyle and I arrived the line was around the block, though luckily we were able to sneak in the back and take photos. But when we left the line was still around the block, even though they’d already let a good chunk of people in. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he sold out his entire show in one night.

If you’re in Los Angeles be sure to stop by Gallery 1988 and see the show. It’s actually really fun trying to figure out who everyone is and getting a laugh at all his cleverness. I’ve posted more photos of the exhibit under the cut, so be sure to check them out as well.

Bobby