Tim Doyle's "Unreal Estate" Art Show (EXCLUSIVE)

UPDATE (2/21): For the next few hours (until midnight tonight PST) the following two Simpsons inspired prints will be available for purchase. They can be purchased separately or together! In fact, you can buy them through the Spoke Art store right now!

"742 Evergreen Terrace" Art Print
16" x 20" - Signed and Numbered
$40 (Separate) / $100 (Matching Set) - Edition Size TBD
Inspired By: The Simpsons

"742 Evergreen Terrace" Art Print (Glow in the Dark Variant)
16" x 20" - Signed and Numbered
$70 (Separate) / $100 (Matching Set) - Edition Size TBD
Inspired By: The Simpsons

UPDATE (1/31): You can find the other exclusives at /Film and Inside the Rock Poster Frame. Check 'em out!

Remember that episode of The Simpsons when Homer became a fully realized computer-generated 3D character? It was part of a their annual "Treehouse of Horror" special, if my memory serves me. Or when the city of South Park was transformed into an anime battleground, complete with throwing stars and brightly colored nunchuks? Or more recently, when the series Community channeled the claymated winter wonderland of Rankin-Bass, albeit in a much more disturbing and hilarious manner? I do, and I don't think I'm alone in admitting there's something innately enthralling (and jarring) about a show's reality, whether it's live-action or animated, being turned on its head and transformed into something else. Something foreign, yet undeniably familiar. Cue Tim Doyle's new solo show "Unreal Estates," which poses the question: what if the warped and assuredly twisted mind of Mr. Doyle was to reinterpret some of our favorite televised locales? The answer: they would look a lot like what you see below. Duh. In much more concise and poetic terms, here's how Tim described his newest solo endeavor:

"'Unreal Estate' is a collection of locations that many of us know and have been to on a weekly basis at times, but can never actually visit. These places are in our memories transmitted and entrenched there through a cathode-ray tube. Some of us have been going to these places for decades, some of these places were taken from us, way too soon."

Did anyone else get a Videodrome-esque vibe from that summary? I'll be using tonight's post to preview some of the show's unbelievably cool artwork for Tim Doyle's "Unreal Estate" which opens on Thursday (2/2) at the Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco. I have five images to discuss here, but I wanted to start things off right by premiering (yes, you read that correctly, PREMIERING) Doyle's King of the Hill inspired artwork "Rusty Shackelford." You saw it here first! Unless, of course, someone already appropriated the image from my site and put it on their blog or Tumblr page, in which case, you saw it here second...or third...or fourth (you get the idea). Here we go!

"Rusty Shackelford" Art Print (POSTEROCALYPSE EXCLUSIVE)
Tim Doyle
16" x 20" - Signed and Numbered
Limited to 100
Inspired By: King of the Hill

"Rusty Shackelford" Original Drawing (POSTEROCALYPSE EXCLUSIVE)
Tim Doyle

I'm always kind of amazed that King of the Hill had such a long run on television. The show was so region-specific and never really went for the humorous non sequitur (I'm looking at you Family Guy) or the pop culture-friendly one-liner (I'm still looking at you Family Guy). Instead, we were treated to the diverse goings on of a town called Arlen and the lives of the families who lived there. I really don't mean to make it sound like a made-for-TV Lifetime movie, but I did want to stress that a good deal of the laughs King of the Hill garnered came from a place that felt very real and were definitely earned. Alright, the long-winded sermon is over, let's talk about Doyle's print, shall we? When I first laid my eyes on "Rusty Shackelford," which just so happens to be Dale Gribble's oft-used alias, two words popped into my brain: "dust" and "bowl." Tim has perfectly captured that iconic Texas look with muted and earthy tones. So much so, that I'm tempted to rub the screen with my thumb and see if I can wipe some of that caked-on grit off. And how impressive is that line-work? I included all of the original drawings, because I really think it gives you a better idea of how fleshed out each of these designs already are prior to any coloring. Well, that's enough from me. Here's what Tim had to say about his ode to Arlen:

"King of the Hill is an odd duck of a show. Set in a mythical suburban Texas town, a mix of a very real Richardson and Garland (both towns adjacent to Plano, where I grew up), it rings with an authenticity any Texas-raised child would recognize. The thing that's odd to me is that the show was aired anywhere else in the nation, much less the world. No matter how extreme the characters are on screen, I know someone who could have been the archetype they were based on. I WISH I could say I never met a gun-nut conspiracy theorist like Dale Gribble, but I knew that guy, mirrored sunglasses and all. I'll never forget my friend's parents pulling out the night vision goggles one evening to see what the cops were doing up the block, a loaded handgun on the coffee table. The provincial and Protestant Peggy Hill was no parody, but an accurate representation of just about every teacher I had growing up in Texas. If there's a character in television history that is most representative of my life- it's Bobby Hill. A short, fat, awkward outsider, obsessed with fruit pies in a football dominated culture. (I still literally could not tell you the rules of the game to this day.) Now, my parents were East-coast transplants and my family life wasn't anything like Bobby's, but I've been to that house and seen that family repeated dozens of times, I tell you what.

I remember driving past the local propane dealer time and time again, never really understanding what the hell those places were for. We were charcoal briquette people. (Hank would be ashamed.)

I purposefully went for a dusty, gritty look for this print- trying to echo the sometimes frightening weather of central Texas. I spent more than a few hours under a mattress in my parent's hallway, waiting for the tornado to come and kill us all, only to get the all clear signal from the local siren. (Seriously- I can't believe I live in a world where that is real- one day you're just watching Mr. Peppermint on TV, and the next- wind is coming to kill you.)"

The "Rusty Shackelford" print will be available at the Spoke Art Gallery on Thursday (2/2) and available through Spoke Art's online storefront the next day. The poster measures 16" x 20", is signed and numbered, and is limited to an edition of 100. To learn more about Tim Doyle, be sure to visit his online portfolio and his print studio at nakatomiinc.com (I recommend picking up a copy of Bad Cat Comics while you're there).

"Night over the SNPP" Art Print
Tim Doyle
16" x 20" - Signed and Numbered
Price TBD - Limited to 100
Inspired By: The Simpsons

"Night over the SNPP" Original Drawing
Tim Doyle

Please raise your hand if, during your childhood, you spent at least three to five hours every week watching The Simpsons after school and on Sunday night. If you're anything like me, The Simpsons played a VERY large role in shaping you as a person - your sense of humor, your alarmingly apathetic handling of plutonium rods, and your general distrust of monorails and the men who sell them. Seriously, this was an incredibly important show to me, and even though I've since ceased regularly tuning in, The Simpsons will forever hold a special place in my heart. And I think out of all the prints from Tim's show, his Simpsons inspired work may be my favorite so far. Beyond the immediately familiar setting, I'm head over heels for the beautiful billows of purple, pink, and blue smoke rising up from the nuclear plant's cooling towers. I also appreciate the care Doyle has taken in so meticulously crafting the power lines and utility poles - the criss-crossing of wires and cables is at once gorgeous and grotesque. If "Rusty Shackelford" brought to mind a dust bowl, then "Night over the SNPP" makes me think of cancer and carcinogens. Tim Doyle on his Simpsons prints:

"The first three prints I created for the show were all inspired by The Simpsons- I knew I had to kick them out of my head up front and move on, as The Simpsons could very easily dominate the entire exhibit if I let it. I purposefully set these three images at night or sunset to force the color scheme away from the pastel and neon palette of the show."

The "Night over the SNPP" art print will be available through Spoke Art Gallery on Thursday (2/2) and will be purchasable online soon after that. The print measures 16" x 20", is signed and numbered, and is limited to an edition of 100. If you haven't already, I recommend signing up for Spoke Art's mailing list to make sure you don't miss any drop info.

"Amanda Hugginkiss" Art Print
Tim Doyle
16" x 20" - Signed and Numbered
Price TBD - Limited to 100
Inspired By: The Simpsons

"Amanda Hugginkiss" Original Drawing
Tim Doyle

I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of folks aiming to pick up all three Simpsons prints. Doyle's approach to the Simpsons posters manages to balance a certain classiness, with their twilight color palettes and wonderfully realized depictions of Springfield, while also paying respect to the overall silliness that's so integral to the series. Oh yeah, and it features freaking Bleeding Gums Murphy! How can you not immediately fall in love with "Amanda Hugginkiss"?! Wait, that came out wrong. And it's impossible not to appreciate the Lard Lad Donuts sign, which will forever and always remind me of the "Treehouse of Horror" episode when Lard Lad comes to life. Here's what Mr. Doyle had to say about his jazzy Simpsons print:

"This one is my favorite of the bunch- the blue to pink split fountain echoing the setting sun.

The problem with starting a series like this is that you might write up a list of all the pieces you want to do, but once you've got a few images in, you've already thought of a whole list of brand new images you want to do first and the original 'sacred cows' you wanted to hit get bumped further and further down. (All In the Family is a casualty of this process.) This two part print of America's favorite street is one of the ones that popped up and refused to wait it's turn."

Tim's "Amanda Hugginkiss" measures 16" x 20", is limited to an edition of 100, and is signed and numbered. The print will be available through the Spoke Art Gallery once "Unreal Estate" opens Thursday (2/2) night, and depending on whether it sells out or not, may be available online the next day. Be sure to follow both Spoke Art (@Spoke_Art) and Tim Doyle (@NakatomiTim) to keep with all their shenanigans and any poster-related news.

"10 Cents Gets You Nuts" Art Print
Tim Doyle
18" x 24" - Signed and Numbered
Limited to 100
Inspired By: Arrested Development

"10 Cents Gets You Nuts" Original Drawing
Tim Doyle

There's always money in the banana stand. Words to live by, right? I jumped on the Arrested Development bandwagon during its second season on-air and was immediately caught up in the labyrinthine dramas and intrigues the Bluth family continually (and hilariously) bungled through. Tim Doyle's "10 Cents Gets You Nuts" print depicts the constantly-in-a-state-of-repair banana stand in all its kitschy glory and has somehow made what was already a beautiful locale look even more picturesque. Tim on his feelings about the show and its recently announced return:

"I went a little bit more contemporary with the Bluth Banana stand. This show wormed its way into me post-cancellation, I'm embarrassed to say. But I'd guess that's the case with the vast majority of AD's fans today. As I was working on this print, the news broke that Arrested Development was in fact coming BACK to television, albeit through the subscription service Netflix, and later into theaters in a long-rumored film. This is fantastic news- and what I believe is a first for network TV- the internet spoke as a collective and WILLED this show back into production. This isn't the case of some stiff in a suit saying 'You know what was popular? 90210. Let's do that again, even though no-one ever asked for it.' The only reason Dallas is back on the air is because people recognize it as a BRAND, not as a show anyone was dying for more of. But this is something...else. We weren't done with the Bluths, and we demanded a family reunion. And we're getting it. Now, who wants to start a Kickstarter to get Firefly back? The internet has spoken."

I could definitely get behind that! Tim's "10 Cents Gets You Nuts" art print will be available through the Spoke Art Gallery on Thursday (2/2) and placed online shortly following that. The print measures 18" x 24" and is limited to an edition of 100. Be sure to visit Spoke Art at spoke-art.com for more info on the "Unreal Estate" show.

"The Big Salad" Art Print
Tim Doyle
18" x 24" - Signed and Numbered
Limited to 100

"The Big Salad" Original Drawing
Tim Doyle

I think this may be Tim Doyle's most loaded print out of the posters mentioned here. It features references galore (take a quick look at the license plate if you don't believe me) and is sure to please the Seinfeld fanatic in all of us. At this point, I recommend you just stare into the craziness that is this print and find some of the little Easter eggs that have been hidden in plain sight. Tim Doyle on the poster's setting:

"For a show based almost completely around interior locales, there is one stand-out exterior shot in Seinfeld- the restaurant. Unlike the other prints in this series, the restaurant is an actual location you can visit and touch- reality and fiction intertwined. While the diner is called 'Monks' in the show, it is in fact Tom's Diner (of the Susanne Vega song) on 2880 Broadway in New York. Fun fact I learned while researching this print is that the exterior of the actual diner in no way matches up with the set that was built in LA."

"The Big Salad" will be available on Thursday (2/2) at the Spoke Art Gallery and online shortly after. The poster measures 18" x 24" and is limited to an edition of 100.

I think it's officially time for me to pass out from exhaustion now. "Unreal Estate" opens on Thursday (2/2) at the Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco. Any unsold prints will be available online the day after at store.spoke-art.com. This is sure to be a great show, and (out of intense jealousy) I curse anyone who can make it there in person! Good night all!