It's Showtime!

About this Artwork

He's right, you know; it is indeed showtime ... showtime for my 2018 edition of horror/Halloween-themed artwork, a Plaid Design tradition each October since 2015! (I also sneaked in "Double Over" and friends in June 2017, for those keeping score.) This year was the 30th anniversary of one of my all-time favorite films, Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. This is the movie that as a kid I completely ruined on VHS by watching it over and over and over, more than any other film at that time (although Spaceballs, Joe Versus the Volcano, and a few select others competed for the top spot). Because of my love for this not-talked-about-enough masterpiece, I wanted to go BIG. So I did just that, spending over two full weeks completing not one, not two, not three - OK, you get the idea - I did TEN (10) full separate works; in fact, this is the first year that I have done a full collection of pop art for Halloween Season. And this one here is what they call the ol' pièce de résistance ... the culmination of all 10 pieces combined. I like artwork that looks one way from a distance, and then reveals cool details as you walk up and take a closer look (see "A Link to the Past," for example). And this is what I tried to do here with our pal Betegeuse's hair. This is also why this one is one of my largest in size, as it kind of needs to be to be able to fully appreciate the references hidden in the hair. And let me tell you, Beetlejuice is such a visual feast full of so many iconic images that it was insanely difficult to narrow it down to the 11 items I selected. I still feel bad for some of the ones that didn't make the final cut, like poor Juno, Miss Argentina, the minister, the lost souls, and of course, Robert Goulet. Maybe one day I'll do "It's Showtime 2," but for now I can only hope that fellow fans will enjoy my tribute - my love letter, to be more accurate - to Burton and the exceptional cast and crew of the wonderfully strange and unusual Beetlejuice.