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Great Scott! It's 2015, the year Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled to in Back To The Future. It's also the 30th anniversary of the flick, the first in the sci-fi trilogy. To mark the occasion, Meltdown Comics held an opening reception for Back To The Future: A 2015 Art Tribute, which features more than 80 artists whose paintings, sculpture, prints and mixed media pay homage to the adventures of McFly and Doc Brown—and Huey Lewis' finest work.
If you didn't already know you were about to time travel through 130 years, the store had a DeLorean, complete with Hover Board inside, parked on Sunset Blvd. According to curator Nico Colaleo, the car was actually one of the original props used in 1989's Back To The Future Part II. Inside the store's Nerdist Showroom, Alan Silverstri's soundtrack and Eighties tunes played as fans—some wearing McFly's trademark red vest and Nike sneakers—browsed artistic renderings of almost every one of the franchise's characters, from our movie's heroes to Einstein the dog to a then-young (and future hobbit) Elijah Wood, who played a video game boy in the sequel. There was even a nod to Eric Stoltz, who die-hard fans know was originally cast in the lead role of Marty McFly.
The works span all of Michael J Fox's incarnations through the franchise films: high school kid, rock star, cowboy, teenage girl. Nico Colaleo's own mixed media "Marlene McFly" captures Fox as Marlene McFly from the sequel, perhaps the creepiest example of an actor in drag in film history.
At least a few of the artists had fun reinterpreting the movie's poster: Matt Brailey places the word butt all over his print "Butts To The Future"—a reference to arch nemesis Biff Tannen's catchphrase "Butthead"—while Whitney Avalon's all-female "Movie Poster of Alternate Timeline 1989" has McFly and Doc Brown looking like Eighties rocker chicks. Speaking of Biff, you can see his menacing mug popping out of Zoe Moss' 3D sculpture "What Are You Looking At, Butthead?" In Mike Mayfield's painting "No Limit Biff," he's standing in front of his casino flanked by girls.
On the cuddlier side, the show includes a pillow by Danielle N. Kramer and quilt by Valerie Keiser, both lovingly embroidered with the DeLorean's license plate "OUTATIME." There was plenty of tributes for the elder McFlys, Lorraine and George, including Molly Bate Johnson's oil and acrylic on wood "You Are My Density," a nod to the odd couple the film's plot revolves around. Though no love is greater (or denser) than Marty McFly and Doc Brown's bromance—the true heart of the film.
Back to the Future: A 2015 Art Tribute runs through March 14. It will be on display at Nerdist Showroom at Meltdown Comics at 7522 Sunset Blvd., 323-851-7223.
