John Ary with a quick update from Saturday's Mondo gallery opening in Austin. I had the chance to meetup with several intersting folks there including Robert Rodriguez. We'll get to him in a second, but first here's a quick explainer from Mondo creative director Justin Ishmael about what you can expect from the new gallery and Quint chimes in about the state of movie poster art:
People began lining up outside on Friday for the opening, braving heavy rains and cool temperatures. They didn't know what would be available for purchase, but they knew it would be something good. They guessed correctly.
For the first time ever, Mondo offered up this Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan print to the public. You can see its alternate edition in the video above. Eat it new Avengers photoshoped poster!
Several interesting folks stopped by the gallery to take in the art, including the director of Sin City Robert Rodriguez. Here's what he told me about his experience with Mondo:
"What I love about Mondo is that it reminds me of my early days as a cartoonist here at UT. I used to make Xerox copies of my strips and sell them at the local comic book store. And it started a whole trend here in Austin of artists making Xerox copied books and selling them on consignment at Austin Books... Mondo, that's what it feels like. Artists coming together, distributing their art. Mondo in particular means a lot to me because I was their first poster... Their first poster was for a special screening of El Mariachi 6 or 7 years ago. The one poster they made that year was El Mariachi and I still have mine... And to see how much they have grown and support artists and how much they put the focus back on art, that's what's really cool."
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