Disclosure: Mondo and BMD are both owned by the Alamo Drafthouse.
Look, we'd heard that our friends over at Mondo were working on a gallery showcase centered around David Lynch's Twin Peaks. We'd also heard that artist Greg Ruth (an impossibly talented individual whose work you should definitely acquaint yourself with) would be producing all the artwork for this showcase, a spin-off of sorts from the "52 Weeks Project" he'd undertaken back when Twin Peaks: The Return was on the air.
What we didn't know was that Mondo and Ruth are releasing that entire run of illustrations in a 12-part print series, all of which will be made available at the Mondo Gallery when The Art of Greg Ruth - A Twin Peaks Interpretation opens on March 8th (don't worry, there'll also be online releases, which we'll get to in a minute).
Here's the press release:
"Mondo is excited to announce their next gallery show The Art of Greg Ruth - A Twin Peaks Interpretation featuring over sixty new prints by artist Greg Ruth inspired by the iconic SHOWTIME® series from Mark Frost & David Lynch. The opening gallery event will take place on Friday, March 8 from 6 – 10pm, and will remain on display through March 12 for regular gallery hours (Mondo Gallery, 4115 Guadalupe St). All giclée prints will be available at the gallery for purchase starting opening night, and remaining prints will be released online each month through August on Mondo’s website.
“We were blown away by the art Greg had done online for Twin Peaks as a fan, so we wanted to find a way to get that work out into the world,” said Creative Director Mitch Putnam. “When the idea of a gallery show came up, we knew having all of the pieces in one room was too good to pass up.”
And here's the first "series" of prints that will released:
Says artist Greg Ruth about the showcase:
“Twin Peaks changed everything in the spring of 1990, and I was mesmerized by its weekly soap-opera format and brilliant dance between mystery, comedy and romance and a kind of horror that had never before existed on the small screen. It influenced a generation of admirers and later inspired me to use it as a short series of portraits of the various keys characters as I tested my new love of graphite work under the umbrella of my self-assigned weekly drawing series, The 52 Weeks Project.
When Twin Peaks aired on SHOWTIME® recently, it sparked an even more enthusiastic and complex series of original drawings that still seems inexhaustible. It is a wellspring of totems, symbols, storytelling and character that is unmatched by any other contenders out there. Twin Peaks continues to be a deep inspiration for me personally, and it is nothing short of the most insanely fantastic honor imaginable to be able to launch this print series and gallery show. If I could only whisper in my ear 27 years ago with the promise of this… “
As noted above, Mondo's The Art of Greg Ruth: A Twin Peaks Interpretation is comprised of a dozen series, each of which contains five giclée prints. All twelve of those series will be available for purchase at the Mondo Gallery when the show opens on the 8th, but each will also see an online release, all of which will be rolling out through August.
Here's the complete schedule:
- MARCH 21: Series 1 + 2 + 3
- APRIL 11: Series 4 + 5
- MAY 9: Series 6 + 7
- JUNE 13: Series 8 + 9
- JULY 11: Series 10 + 11
- AUGUST 15: Series 12
For those keeping score at home, that's a total of 60 pieces of artwork (that sound you hear is a construction crew adding a dozen new rooms to my house; they will remain empty in perpetuity, I just need the expanded wall space). If you're a fan of Lynch's iconic series, this is sorta the be-all, end-all Twin Peaks showcase/series. We're flabbergasted.
Those of you who'll be in town for SXSW should absolutely make a point to stop by the Mondo Gallery while this thing's in operation (that'd be the 8th through the 12th). Everyone who isn't already in Austin or heading into town for this year's South-By should sit tight and wait for those online releases. Stay tuned for more on The Art of Greg Ruth: A Twin Peaks Interpretation. I'll definitely be there on opening night to take an unreasonable amount of photos (and, yes, go immediately broke).