If you’re an artist who’s been inspired by Anjelica Huston or Bill Murray navigating a dysfunctional family or plunging into a deep sea, interspersed with long tracking shots and quiet stills of perfect symmetry, well, you’re not alone.
For five years now, Spoke Art has hosted Bad Dads, an annual show of dozens of artists working with one assigned theme: the films of celebrated director Wes Anderson. The latest opens this week at the gallery on Sutter, and no Anderson fan will want to miss it.
Clear aficionados of cultural phenomena, Spoke Art has also hosted art show tributes to Martin Scorsese and, perhaps most virally, the lovable jaw-challenged cat Lil’ Bub. But Anderson seems to bring out the best in participants, as evidenced by last year’s image of Margot Tenenbaum by artist Edith LeBeau (pictured above), or its online gallery of past submissions. This year, there’s a whole new well of inspiration in The Grand Budapest Hotel, but expect plenty of work based on classics like Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and more.
The show runs through Nov. 22, and for the opening, dust off that scuba gear you’ve got tucked away in your attic: a two-night reception welcomes costumed attendees, from 6pm-10pm, on both Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
