#bam & chris beautiful era

[doctorjackass]

vmas 2003 part 2

#bam & chris beautiful era #steve o can’t keep his pants on era #jenn before going psycho era #jackass #bam margera #chris pontius #steve o #ehren mcghehey #mtv #vmas #2003 #early 2000s #early 2000s nostalgia #y2k

[theplaylistfilm]

“EXPLODES IN THE GUT with a powerful mix of pain and pleasure. Like the reggae music that pulses through it, Babylon is RICH ROUGH and REAL. And like the street life of the young black Londoners it portrays, it’s THREATENING, TOUCHING, VIOLENT and FUNNY. ” —Simon Perry, Variety

“REMARKABLE. Its hard edge is undeniable. Never lets go for a moment.” —Derek Malcolm, The Guardian

@kinolorber Repertory, in partnership with Seventy-Seven, announce their acquisition of the North American rights to Babylon, one of the most highly regarded British cult films. An incendiary portrait of racial tension and police brutality set in Brixton, London, the late Franco Rosso’s Babylon has never been released in the United States until now. Rated X in the U.K., it world premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week in 1980, went to Toronto for its North American premiere, but was passed on by the New York Film Festival: the Time Out headline from the film’s cover story upon its British release in November 1980 read, “the movie the New York Film Festival found too hot to handle.” Punk doyenne Vivien Goldman, who wrote the article, cited the reasons: “being too controversial, and likely to incite racial tension.”

Babylon follows a young dancehall DJ (Brinsley Forde, MBE, frontman of British reggae group Aswad) in Thatcher-era South London as he pursues his musical ambitions, while battling fiercely against the racism and xenophobia of employers, neighbors, police, and the National Front. Written by Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia) and shot by two-time Oscar® winner Chris Menges (The Killing Fields) with beautiful, smoky cinematography that has been compared to Taxi Driver, Babylon is fearless and unsentimental, yet tempered by the hazy bliss of the dancehall set to a blistering reggae, dub, and lovers rock soundtrack featuring Aswad, Johnny Clarke, Dennis Bovell, and more.

Long in the making and taking inspiration from both Mean Streets and The Warriors, Babylon was written by Rosso and Stellman in 1973-74  as a “Play for Today”: the BBC’s acclaimed weekly filmed play series at which many directors cut their teeth, including Mike Leigh, Stephen Frears, Alan Clarke, and others. But the BBC wouldn’t touch it: “There was absolutely nothing that was about the life of young Londoners. Absolutely nothing. We were operating in a complete vacuum,” (Stellman).  It took Gavrik Losey, director Joseph Losey’s son, to sign on as the producer and convince Chrysalis Records and Mamoun Hassan, the visionary new head of the National Film Finance Corporation, to back the project.

Babylon was negotiated by Kino Lorber President Richard Lorber and Director of Repertory Theatrical Distribution and Acquisitions  Jonathan Hertzberg and AMBI. “Like many of the films we champion on our Kino Lorber Repertory label, Franco Rosso’s Babylon is a great movie from the past that remains relevant today and which, for various reasons, has flown under the radar in our country up until now,” says Hertzberg. “When we found out that our friend and collaborator Gabriele Caroti was as passionate about this lost classic as we were, it was an easy decision to team up and ensure that the film’s rollout is as tallawah—strong and robust—as it so richly deserves.”

This will mark the debut of boutique film label Seventy-Seven, which will release Babylon alongside Kino Lorber Repertory. Seventy-Seven is Gabriele Caroti’s label focusing on vintage, underseen, and underappreciated fare. Back in 2012, Caroti curated a reggae film series pegged to Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of independence in which he programmed the film: “Babylon forms the trinity of great reggae films alongside The Harder They Come and Rockers, but this one’s the best—toppa top. It transcends. It’s extremely powerful and very relevant 40 years later,” says Caroti. “When discovering it was never released stateside, I was shocked and then thought that I had to be the one to do it—also being an Italian expatriate reggae-head. So after leaving BAM, I started exploring that possibility and, lo and behold, my friends at Kino Lorber were as well so we’ve decided to join forces. I’m thrilled. It’s been a dream to make this happen.”

Babylon will be rolled out March 8,  followed by streaming, VOD, and home video.

#kino lorber #seventy-seven #babylon #reggae

[lrugloyak]

Snowpiercer (2013)

A few days ago, I came across a video (whose title slips my mind now lol) that talks about a certain film and how it’s centered around its main characters. “As if there are any that focus on anything else,” I thought to myself, until I finished this drug of a mess.

It made me gag. It made me tear up from gagging. Tilda obviously made me laugh. All I remember was feeling sick about most of the plot throughand how the characters made their way through their own tasks, but these people were besides the point. Snowpiercer managed to construct an almost completely believable future by keeping relevant from the moment of its release to this day. I literally had to actively remind myself every few minutes that it wasn’t based on a written book because it felt so well-thought through (FYI though, it was based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. Thanks, wiki!) More than anything, it proved that video right: a film doesn’t have to revolve around its characters when its underlying plot can deliver its message all on its own.

Some notes!

It was Hunger Games without less metaphors and more theatrics that mattered. Okay, that’s probably not fair, but all I remember at the moment from Hunger Games was all the talking (or....murmuring HAHA zzzz) in the last 2 movies. Yeah, I’m getting that it was a whole book series, but I didn’t really appreciate the beauty of it until reading and watching the buzzing fandom’s analyses about it. Alone, and maybe it had to do with my age, it was a stretched out history book with so many sidetracks that I gave up trying to find the deeper meaning in the middle of it. (Again, not fair, but planning to re-read the whole thing again soon, mostly to get to starting the prequel. Wish me luck!) Snowpiercer took a different path in interpreting the morals of human society in it’s own no bullshit way -- no ceremonies, no repetitions of any big event, no love triangles (thank u Lord). Just pure, unfathomed almost-realities. And that’s really what keeps you hooked to genres like sci-fi: empathy! Hunger Games used to be an avenue for me to discuss more books with my school friends back in the day. It was a series I wanted to finish mostly because it was fun talking about the characters and judging their decisions as if they were people and we could actually control their every move! FOMO, if you will. And that’s great, because underneath all that, all I had to do was dust off the series years later and realize how parallel it is to local/national and international issues. But my point is that with Snowpiercer, I didn’t have to dust anything off. It’s like if I showed this to younger Me who was still engrossed with how wonderful a husband Finnick O’Dair would be in real life, she’d get the point and snap out of it. Or maybe I’m expecting too much HAHA. Just let her be, you filthy ingrate!

I’d have compared it to Train to Busan as well with how the characters weren’t the main driving force of the film, but I’m guessing that’s not true. Train to Busan eventually boiled down to individual people, exposing ego, pride, trust (or lack thereof), and any other harrowing characteristics each character embodied. Snowpiercer took a different route, using the plot to motivate the characters instead of the other way around, in turn giving its viewers the much bigger picture of how the world works. Take it this way. While watching Train to Busan, an audience member might think, “hey, I know someone like that guy with the bat” or “wow I’m like that sometimes; I really should change because that guy looks like a total asshole onscreen.” While watching Snowpiercer on the other hand, they’d probably...be silent the whole way through, until the end when they think, “this is happening all around us, and I’m scared because at this point it doesn’t seem like I have any control over it whatsoever, and nothing I change about myself will affect the harshness of reality. And I need a 16-hour nap.” In the end, you’ll realize that the plot outlives the characters. In the end, you’ll realize that the characters took the reins to the story without having to take the spotlight.

Personally, it was more memorable than Parasite. No, it wasn’t the star-studded cast or how more far-fetched of a dystopian era it represents. And if you even begin to suggest it was Chris Evans or my queen Tilda’s doing, I’m telling you now that if you get the chance to watch this for the first time, you won’t have the slightest bit of time to appreciate the cast until long after everything is over. It’s like, you know, when class starts and you take down the first few lines of notes from the board and begin to think you’ll be able to understand the rest of the lesson based on that and then bam the whole board is filled with complete gibberish when you look back up. (Sorry, I had more violent analogies for the point, but this one seemed to fit best.) But I’m guessing the complexity and the experimental aspects of Snowpiercer helped challenge the creators to make it more realistic than what they had to work with on Parasite. It’s easier to create fiction by throwing in extravagant, over-the-top novel ideas than to pull less conventional situations out of non-fiction ideas, but to channel non-fiction from fiction and favoring both -- that’s called ‘genius’.

Update: did some reading to keep this void filled HAHA and I found some articles snd reviews that made good points, like this one.

Update: more info! I've been itching to find out what happened to this character at the end scene. Spoiler warning! But once you've finished the film, this is a really interesting take on one of the very last parts.

#kylle #november2020 #movies #ctto of the gif!!

[placetobenation]

There’s a lot to cover with Beth Phoenix. This might be a long one. She packed an extraordinary amount into her six year career, playing every conceivable role, fighting men and women, inventing angles, being a workhorse, and having more legitimately great matches than any other woman of the Divas Era. She also had more of my personal dream matches than any other wrestler.

When I say dream matches, I mean right from the word go. Beth lowkey debuted in 2006 at the arse end of the Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James storyline, for reasons. Her first match was a tag opposite Victoria and within two seconds of them touching I IMMEDIATELY needed all the Beth vs. Victoria matches. The good news is this wish was granted the week after. The bad news is that Beth broke her jaw in it and disappeared and there were never any more Beth vs. Victoria matches.

Those first main roster appearances were merely a tease, both of Beth herself and of the feeling of wanting her to wrestle everyone in sight.

A full year later she returned with A CAPE, the Glamazon persona and a monster heel push to match, steamrolling the roster on her way to beating Candice Michelle for the title. The Candice feud is amazing. A-MA-ZING, particularly for the way that Beth went into it as a bit of a stiff, and came out of it as a confident, dominating monster, completely transformed. Candice deserves all the credit in the world for that, but that’s another song.

Once she put the pieces together, Beth was a fucking force. She had unbelievable timing, knowing exactly when to let someone run around her and when to cut them off, and when she cut them off she was merciless. BAM clothesline! BAM backbreaker! BAM mid-air catching slingshot backdrop driver from HELLLLLLLL!

She brutalized smaller girls like Maria, Candice and Kelly Kelly. She had a long-running rivalry with Mickie James where they amassed a laundry list of killer matches. Mickie was her perfect foil, a hard working babyface who could push her to the limit before being caught and splatted. And Beth did splat her, and everyone else. She was dominant as all get out.

And then she looked at Melina sideways.

Beth Phoenix Dream Match Alert.

Now Melina, once again, was the baddest motherfucker on the planet. Her and Beth were both heels but after a three-way with Mickie at the end of 2007 I IMMEDIATELY needed all the Beth vs. Melina matches. Then one day Melina cost Beth a chance to regain the title which she had just lost to Mickie in an EPIC match in London. Beth was understandably pissed, and paid her back a week later by walking out on their tag team match and then chewing Melina out backstage for good measure.

This was TERRIFYING. Beth was banging on and Melina was getting hotter and hotter and I was fearing for Beth’s ENTIRE life. Melina finally snapped and hit her but Beth just picked her up above her head and DRILLED her into a locker over and over until she stopped moving and was probably dead.

THIS WAS TWICE AS TERRIFYING. Beth had dominated all the women for almost a year, but absolutely nothing she did was as scary as taking the legitimately frightening and mass murderous Melina and just annihilating her to death like it wasn’t nothin’.

From there they engaged in basically one big brawl for the next month. They would scrap constantly and crowds would be eating it up and chanting “LET THEM FIGHT!” and it was all so completely violent and awesome. So they let them fight at the One Night Stand PPV, I Quit, where Beth literally had to bend Melina into unnatural and suspiciously pretzel-like shapes before she said the words. If you can find me a better heel vs. heel match in company history, bring it to me. This thing is UNBELIEVABLE.

Beth sure did love twisting Melina around like she was Play-Doh though. It reached a level at their rematch at Royal Rumble 2009 when Beth picked up Melina’s foot and beat her in the back of her own head with it, which I’m pretty sure broke all of the known laws of physics. Beth also specialized in pulling off other wacky ass feats of strength, like picking two people up at once into a DOUBLE BACKBREAKER.

Or like, you know, beating up men.

Like The Great Khali, whom she eliminated from the Royal Rumble. Or CM Punk, whom she lariated the shit out of during that match. Or Santino Marella. Be still my beating heart.

Beth deserves a shit ton of credit for the Glamarella angle. We love to heap praise on male wrestlers like Chris Jericho or Mick Foley for writing their own storylines. Well, Beth came up with Glamarella. I feel like she can dine out on that one for quite a while.

It was a perfect pairing. Santino was the goofiest wrestler in history. Beth was very dominant, and very serious, and when Santino made an open challenge to ANYONE, she took that seriously too. She beat Santino up and pinned him to win the match, then she flexed at him and he BUMPED ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR IN FEAR. My man. (If you watch this back, the people go apeshit when she wins and Beth is so overjoyed that they pulled it off just like she dreamed it that she can’t stop beaming. Bless.)

AND THE NEXT WEEK IT GOT A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER.

Beth came out again to continue the fight with Santino… or so she probably thought. They grabbed a waistlock, wrestled around for a minute, and then stopped. And stared. Santino grabbed her hair and waited, giving her every chance to fight him off. But Beth grabbed him back, and THEY KISSED for like 1.7 seconds before breaking apart, bewildered. Santino tried REALLY HARD not to look too pleased in case she beat the shit out of him again. And Beth looked like she had no earthly idea what had remotely possessed her to do that. And it was all so EXCELLENT.

As their relationship developed from there it was clear just how perfect a pairing it was. Santino Marella is the greatest comedian in the history of WWE, don’t @ me. Beth Phoenix might be the greatest straight man in company history as well. They were gold together. Santino just Santino’d all over the place with his hi-jinks, and Beth was there to roll her eyes and show that she did, somehow, like this guy, but she maybe wasn’t entirely sure… why. Beth was basically his heavy, saving him from trouble, carrying him on HER shoulders, and just generally being the dominant one. Very Chyna-esqe, but Beth was VASTLY better than Chyna in every single way, and frankly, Santino was way better than Triple H as well.

Anyway, at no time was this dynamic more apparent than during the mini feud they had with Batista.

BETH PHOENIX DREAM MATCH ALERT.

For a fun few weeks Santino kept mouthing off about Batista and landing himself in hot water, squealing and cowering whenever he came face to face with Big Dave. Beth, on the other hand, stepped up to him and slapped him in the face. When this happened I LOST ALLLLLL OF MY SHIT AND I IMMEDIATELY NEEDED ALL THE BETH VS. DAVE MATCHES. Sadly, that was one that never materialized.

There was one that did, however.

Soon after Gail Kim returned to WWE in 2009, her and Beth were in a random six-man and within half a second I did immediately need all of the Beth vs. Gail Kim matches. They brushed past one another a couple times – a tag match here, a battle royal there – and I was completely sold but they never had a singles match, and I became obsessed with this white whale of a match I thought I’d never see. Every time it came up, that was my #1 dream match.

Finally a whole two years later, Superstars in 2011 proved it was the king of all the C Shows and randomly booked my dream match, just like that. I went embarrassingly ballistic. And after all that anticipation, Beth and Gail went out there and ran absolutely stark raving wild for a whole four minutes and made all my dreams come true. They even shook hands afterwards like they knew they’d just delivered a workrate dream match for the people. And they did. Nobody has ever been more excited about a four minute C Show match than I was watching Beth Phoenix vs. Gail Kim.

Again, this is the beauty of Beth, the idea of her facing really anyone at all is exciting. Having a tiny little thing like Kelly or Maria to beat up? Interesting! Having a worker like Mickie or Gail to run around with? Sounds good! She wants to step to some male wrestler? Sign me up! She wants to give Jack Swagger’s Soaring Eagle mascot a Glam Slam for no apparent reason? Go nuts Beth!

That really did happen, by the way. Beth was so keen to do comedy that sometimes I wonder if she was just a classic stooging heel trapped in Beth Phoenix’s body. But really I think it just shows her incredible versatility. Being a bigger, powerful woman in a sea of Divas, it would have been the easiest thing in the world for Beth Phoenix to just be the monster heel. And she was so fantastic at it. But she was capable of so much more, and always wanted to show it. She could switch from dominant heel to bumbling around and getting rolled up, and still turn around and dominate again without losing her credibility. She could talk and act and show vulnerability and cry when needed. She could do ALL of the comedy, and was the perfect straight woman. And she was a super fun dominant babyface, but could also sell and garner sympathy, even with smaller opponents.

She even ran as a tweener for a while, straddling the line. What most people don’t remember about the Piggie James angle is how involved Beth Phoenix was – as Laycool teased the shit out of Mickie, Beth was caught in the middle, deciding who she’d rather beat up. After a few months of crowds begging Beth to do the right thing, she gave in to temptation and became a good guy.

From the jump Beth knew what the people really wanted: moves that spin around and fiery babyface comebacks. Her first move as a face was to bust out an AIRPLANE SPIN, and I mean, you just can’t beat that. She also added the GIANT SWING, and just generally had a bunch of fun spinning people around in a circle and lariating their heads off.

Plus, look at that sweet face. Who wants to boo this woman anyway?

Beth was a lot of fun as a babyface. My favorite part was how she became like a big sister to the other faces on Smackdown – Kelly Kelly and Tiffany. She’d team up with them and save them from beatdowns and ruffle their hair affectionately. One time during a tag team match, she did all the damage and then gestured to Kelly to say, “here, you can have this one”, and let her tag in and take the pin, like a present. ADORABLE.

*heart eyes emoji*

The only thing about this little ray of sunshine run is that it ended so soon and so tragically. Beth won the Women’s Title off Michelle McCool at Extreme Rules 2010 in a fun plunder match, but a couple weeks later she did her ACL and had to have surgery. Of course, fate would have it that the next week SmackDown was IN BUFFALO where she entered as the newly-crowned champion hometown hero, only to lose the title and be left laying on one leg crying miserable tears. I can’t even.

By the damn way, can we just stop to appreciate that Beth Phoenix was working on a busted ACL and SHE STILL PICKED UP TWO WOMEN ON HER SHOULDERS IN A DOUBLE BACKBREAKER ON ONE LEG.

Speaking of can we just, she had barely been back from this injury a month before DYING FOR OUR SINS at TLC in the first ever women’s Tables match vs. Laycool. A lot happens in this match but the main thing was Beth Phoenix bumping on her head to her absolute death over and over. She went full Trish here. In fact, when called upon Beth always did lean in and take some terrific shots; there’s a moment at Extreme Rules vs. Michelle where she eats shit on a pile of ironing boards (don’t ask). Beth could take some big bumps yo.

Now of course, that Tables Match involved Natalya too, and we gotta talk about Beth and Nattie. They were fun as a babyface powerhouse team in late 2010. They were AWESOME once they turned heel in the summer of 2011, became the Divas of Doom and went after Kelly Kelly. They were the perfect foils for Kelly as they railed against “Barbie dolls” in the division, and my God, those Beth vs. Kelly matches were just… *kisses fingers*

Beth and Kelly had amazing chemistry. The 2011 series was outstanding, subsequent matches were really good too, and even early on when Kelly was much greener, they always had fun with Beth just beating on her. This is what I’m talking about with Beth – even if I’m not specifically shouting DREAM MATCH, she just matches up so well with so many people in really exciting ways.

Back to the Divas of Doom, man, they literally invented a submission move just so they could tie all the pretty girls in knots and shove a mic in their faces while they screamed and cried. Wild. On a related note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Beth and Nattie had also taken to wearing bomb ass dresses on telly every week, calling themselves Pinup Strong, and there’s a moment one day on Smackdown where Nattie is beating up Kelly on the floor and Beth is sitting on the stairs in a dress watching on looking incredible and I’m pretty sure this 20 seconds of TV added about five years to my lifespan.

Somehow Beth and Natalya existed on TV together for over four years without ever facing each other one on one. Oh yes, Beth Phoenix Dream Match Alert.

When Beth was heading out the door in 2012, serendipity lead to her having one last SmackDown TV taping in Buffalo, and it was there in her hometown that she and Nattie finally got to have a match. You can see just how over the moon they are, and as tradition held they went absolutely stark raving wild for four whole minutes, including the one and only time in her career that anyone kicked out of the Glam Slam. A parting gift from Beth Phoenix. She had a couple more matches after that, but having her moment with Nattie in the ring and crying it out with her afterwards was about as appropriate a sendoff as you could get. Like so many of these women, she went out on her shield, putting the work in.

Beth always put the work in, she was a trooper. She is also a total sweetheart and I’m so happy for the last couple of years where she’s got to go into the Hall of Fame (best speech ever, don’t @ me either), be in the first Women’s Royal Rumble and now get this commentary gig. She deserves it all.

So this week was in celebration of a great wrestler. Next week will be… not that. And guys, trust me, you ain’t ready.

Check it out: Candice Michelle vs. Beth Phoenix – Women’s Title (No Mercy 2007) Beth vs. Mickie vs. Melina – Women’s Title (Raw, December 31st 2007) Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James – Women’s Title (Raw, April 14th 2008) Beth Phoenix vs. Melina – I Quit (One Night Stand 2008) Beth Phoenix vs. Melina – Women’s Title (Royal Rumble 2009) Michelle McCool vs. Beth Phoenix – Women’s Title Extreme Makeover Rules (Extreme Rules 2010) Beth & Kelly vs. Laycool (Smackdown, April 30th 2010) Beth & Natalya vs. Laycool – Tables Match (TLC 2010) Beth Phoenix vs. Gail Kim (Superstars, June 30th 2011) Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly – Divas Title (Night of Champions 2011) Beth Phoenix vs. Eve – Divas Title (Vengeance 2011) Beth Phoenix vs. Natalya (Smackdown, September 28th 2012)

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

[superkickingit]

Wrestling is An Art - Wrestling Artist Profiles

Art inspires art, and the art of professional wrestling is no exception. Many are familiar with the artist Rob Schamberger who makes WWE-themed artwork. But there are so many other, lesser-known artists crafting wrestling-themed pieces, all with their own unique style. Three such examples are artists Erik Hodson, Erle Tompkins, and Bruce White.

Erik Hodson grew up an ardent fan of both professional wrestling and comic books! When he became a touring artist, he decided to insert both of his loves into his work by basing his art on the comic book covers he grew up reading. Instead of portraying the popular superheroes that would usually grace these covers, he features wrestlers, both past and present. If you, too, love comic books and comic book-style art then Hodson, @heymelby, has pieces that will visually appeal to you.

The colors of his artwork are rich, vibrant, and saturated. Hodson’s first wrestling-themed piece is a depiction of Bret THE HITMAN Hart trapping Vince McMahon in a sharp shooter. His inspiration for this art print came from The Amazing Spiderman 129.

In another example, he based his intricate and colorful Finn Balor piece on Jack Kirby’s The Demon. 

He was later inspired by one of the best matches in wrestling history, using the layout of the Tales of Suspense comics to create his piece depicting the famous Ricky Steamboat vs Macho Man match from Wrestlemania III. Other pieces feature wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, Lita, past and present Bullet Club members, the Four Horsemen, Mean Gene, Sting, John Cena, Becky Lynch, and many more!

Hodson sketches his art by hand, then brings it into his computer to fine-tune it and uses a program to infuse beautiful depth and rich, bright colors. His art is printed on a sturdy poster stock. He does non-wrestling artwork as well!

To purchase his art find him on Storenvy: Here You can find him on FaceBook: @ErikHodsonIllustration Instagram: @heymelby His website: erikhodson.com He is on Patreon at: patreon.com/heymelby

If you enjoy a more general, pop-culture, illustrative style of art, then Erle Tompkins, @artbyerle, has some prints for you. His pieces are also unique and colorful. He bases his subjects on which wrestler is currently popular or visually appealing and also depicts prominent events throughout wrestling history.

Tompkins creates his art digitally using a drawing tablet to sketch and manipulate images. It is printed on heavy-duty cardstock.

His favorite piece illustrates an extreme close up of Steve Austin’s bloody face from the historic Bret Hart vs Stone Cold match at Wrestlemania 13. Erle describes the piece, “…I love the image. It is very cartoony. It’s pop art style…I think it’s a perfect image capturing a moment that has become iconic not only in wrestling but for Steve Austin himself.“

Other subjects of his art include Broken Matt Hardy, Kenny Omega, Daniel Bryan, Vince McMahon, Sasha Banks, Sting, The Undertaker, Shinsuke Nakamura, and many more. 

You can buy his art at his website artbyerle.com and connect with him on Twitter and Instagram @artbyerle

Then there is non-conventional artist Bruce White who channels his inner George Costanza, "I would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable!” by using the unusual medium of velvet to create wrestling portraits.

His subjects include some of the biggest names in the history of the business. His latest wrestling exhibit is called Velvetmania II and is on display in the New York art gallery Gallery 1988. You can find it online at gallery1988.com. Bruce also features other subjects in his art including horror movie villains and other pop culture icons.

Why velvet? White says, “…my partner found a bad one at a thrift shop, and I became obsessed with the idea of trying it. Velvet painting has gotten such a bad reputation over the years, and has been regulated to the lowest of the "low brow” art, which I think is unfair. That reputation is really a result of the poor quality of the art. I wanted to try to push it in the other direction, to be as realistic as possible.“

His favorite wrestling piece he’s created has been Koko B. Ware from his first wrestling exhibit entitled Velvetmania I. "His glasses, the feathers, the colors, and a parrot! Just a colorful, amazing look. Goldust was fun too, with all those feathers. Chris Jericho was a cool one this time, with that ponytail and shiny shirt. I really enjoy the more ‘over the top’ costumes the guys used to wear in the 1980s.  With the new show [Velvetmania II], the 'attitude era’ outfits, the colors were more toned down… it was all about leather, chains, tattoos and black shirts. Without the over the top costumes, I was more focused on facial expressions to give cues to their characters.”

Besides the wrestlers mentioned above, some of the wrestlers he’s portrayed are Triple H, DDP, Bam Bam Bigelow, Paul Bearer, Scott Hall, and many others.

Find him on Twitter, IG, and FB @velvetgeek His website is velvetgeek.com, and he can be reached for commissions at [email protected].  To view the new Velvetmania collection go to gallery1988.com. To purchase email Gallery1988 at [email protected]

Vince McMahon once said, “To those who believe in the beauty of professional wrestling, nothing needs to be said. For those who don’t appreciate wrestling, nothing could be said to change their minds.” So I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in this writer’s opinion I think all these artists craft beautiful and distinctly different works of art. I have purchased items from all three talented creators, and I can’t wait to see what they will come up with next!

Check out my interviews with artists Erik Hodson and Erle Tompkins below!