JAMES BOND: 50 YEARS OF 007 ART @ Q POP
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang | Sean Danconia | 2013
Excerpts from LA Weekly | Liz Ohanesian w/ photography by Shannon Cottrell | 2013
“Q Pop celebrated all things James Bond with “50 Years of 007 Art” on Saturday, April 27. Attendees donned their best Bondian attire and sipped on martinis, shaken not stirred. Featured artists included Jasmin Lai, Akira Sorimachi, Velwyn Yossy, Carrie Liao, Sean D'Anconia, Naoshi, Plasticgod, Joey Chou, Stanley Chow, Lynne Naylor, Louie Del Carmen and many more.”
Plasticgod's small, block-y paintings stand up on a top shelf inside Little Tokyo gallery/boutique Q Pop. There's Jaws, the large villain from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. There's a girl done up in gold, reminiscent of the opening title sequence from Goldfinger. In the middle is Bond, James Bond. It's a painting of the Roger Moore incarnation of the famed spy, dressed in the yellow ski suit that marks 007's infamous jump off a cliff in The Spy Who Loved Me. Hanging from the painting and over the edge of the shelf is a Union Jack parachute.
On Saturday night, Q Pop celebrated half-a-century of big-screen James Bond adaptations with a group art show inspired by the film franchise. The collection in “James Bond: 50 Years of 007 Art Celebration” was voluminous. Art was squeezed into every nearly every corner of the shop. There were paintings and prints, a small selection of DVDs and other themed gift items and a slew of golden guns carefully placed across the shelves.
Q Pop owner Christopher Mitchell played a selection of Bond themes over the sound system. Some people arrived dressed in Bond-like tuxes. One man stood in a corner, petting a plushie as though he were Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the Bond villain and obvious inspiration for Doctor Evil in the Austin Powers universe.”
If there was one thing to take away from Q Pop's events, it's that James Bond is more than just a long-running series of entertaining spy films. The look of the classic movies holds a fairly significant influence on L.A.'s art scene. “James Bond: 50 Years of 007 Art Celebration” did a good job of exploring that influence.
“James Bond: 50 Years of 007 Art Celebration” runs at Q Pop through May 11.