Posted Feb 3, 2009 by Lando Da Pimp The Vader Project Premiering at The Andy Warhol Museum in Show runs February 13 – May 3, 2009 The Vader Project – a reimagining of the iconic Darth Vader helmet by some of today’s hottest underground and pop surrealist painters, artists and designers – makes its museum premiere and will be on display February 13 – May 3, 2009 at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The Vader Project is curated by Dov Kelemer & Sarah Jo Marks of DKE Toys. Kelemer and Marks gathered 100 contemporary artists. Each artist was given a 1:1 scale authentic prop replica of the actual Darth Vader helmet used in the STAR WARS™ films. Each helmet served as a blank slate for each artist to paint, design, mash up and customize. Featuring work by Shag, Peter Kuper, Attaboy, Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Dalek, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Michelle Valigura, Frank Kozik, Wade Lageose, Joe Ledbetter, Alex Pardee, Suckadelic, Cameron Tiede, Michelle Valigura, Mister Cartoon, Marc Ecko, Amanda Visell and many more, The Vader Project provided an opportunity for artists to use one of the most iconic pop culture characters in film history as their canvas.
“It’s because of trailblazing artists like Andy Warhol that The Vader Project can even exist today. We couldn’t be more honored to be showcasing The Vader Project at the Warhol.” says Kelemer. The Vader Project originally premiered at Star Wars Celebration IV in Los Angeles in May 2007. From there it traveled to Star Wars Celebration Europe in London in June 2007. July 2007 brought 10 new helmets to the Star Wars Pavilion at the famed San Diego Comi-Con International. Then in July 2008, 13 Japanese artists joined forces with the existing Vader Project when their helmets premiered at Star Wars Celebration Japan. Dov Kelemer & Sarah Jo Marks are Co-Curators The Vader Project and Co-Founders of DKE Toys, one of the largest designer vinyl and art-toy distributors in the world, exclusively representing over 100 companies, artists, and designers. Kelemer started the business selling Star Wars memorabilia more than 15 years ago. With The Vader Project he has finally found a way to meld both his passions.
Episode II – Attack of the Clones The Episode II is pretty amazing. Although, this movie was about as romantic as Rambo, the lego figures are well positioned and still conveys the forbidden love of Anakin and Padme. Episode III – Revenge of the SithGeorge Lucas should stick a lightsaber up his….okay, seriously….I’m calm now. The Episode III Lego poster version reminds me that if Legos actually made these movies, they would have been much better. Or at least if they were made by Legos, we could sing “Everything is Awesome” and not be Lucas-haters. Please Disney, please revive this franchise with the next trilogy. Episode IV – A New Hope A near perfect movie, this Legos poster of Episode IV, is a perfect clone of the original, yet updated, movie poster. Too bad Georige Lucas still had access to the original film and added a bunch of new scenes of pure bologna. Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back Probably the most prolific middle movie to ever be made, both of these posters are pretty stellar.
The Legos team did an amazing job capturing the essence of the sister poster. Episode VI – Return of the Jedi Many people in my generation considered The Empire Strikes Back as the best Star Wars movie. Depsite the major revelations and darkness of that film, as a kid, I absolutely loved Return of the Jedi – and I love both of these posters too. I know, there are a ton of articles already written about these sweet Lego posters, but I didn’t see any that actually placed each poster side-by-side for comparison purposes. WHAT: The new poster for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story WHO: Disney/Lucasfilm, director Gareth Edwards WHY WE CARE: Do you have to ask? Star Wars Celebration Europe is underway today, and they just unveiled two big chunks of pre-hype ahead of the debut of the new Rogue One trailer (on ABC tonight). The first is the above poster, which makes Rogue One look like the sunny tropical getaway the Star Wars universe has always needed (well, officially, anyway).
The second is the below featurette, which takes a closer look behind the scenes at the first "anthology" movie that will fill in the gaps between official "Episodes" like the just-wrapped Star Wars Episode VIII. Rogue One, as we know so far, tells the story of the ragtag group of rebels who stole the plans to the original Death Star and got them into the hands of Princess Leia—before she sends them off inside R2-D2 at the start of 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Never miss a story. I'd also like to receive special Fast Company offersRebel Alliance and the Tie Fighter Want to see the future of car technology? Brian Cooley found it for you at CES 2017 in Las Vegas and the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The connected home experience you didn't know you wanted Everything you need in a phone, except the headphone jackAll attendees and absentee donors can place bids for these items being auctioned at the 2014 Gala @ Rancho Obi-Wan on Saturday, September 20th.