{"id":255701,"date":"2026-04-07T13:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/255701\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:18:08","slug":"gallery-1988-is-closing-after-20-years-some-think-ai-is-to-blame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/255701\/","title":{"rendered":"Gallery 1988 is closing after 20 years, some think AI is to blame"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of L.A.\u2019s most unique art galleries is closing up shop.<\/p>\n

Gallery 1988, which opened in 2004 and proclaimed itself \u201cthe first pop culture-focused art gallery in the world,\u201d will cease operations at the end of April. In a post on Instagram<\/a>, gallery owner Katie Sutton said that while the gallery had been forced to close its physical space on Melrose a few years back, she had \u201creally tried to keep things going [online], especially for our amazing artists.\u201d Unfortunately, she wrote, \u201cthe [art] market is the worst I\u2019ve seen it in over two decades,\u201d and the decision to close became inevitable.<\/p>\n

A launching pad for artists whose work paid tribute to television, film, video games and more, Gallery 1988 was renowned for shows like the annual \u201cCrazy 4 Cult,\u201d which showcased pieces celebrating underground classics from across the entertainment space. It also specialized in single-focus shows like \u201cWeird Al<\/a>,\u201d which celebrated the career of the oddball recording artist \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic, and \u201cYou\u2019re the Very Best, Like No One Ever Was<\/a>,\u201d which paid tribute to the world of Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Exhibitions at Gallery 1988, which is closing after 20 years, often featured lines around the block, with fans who camped out for a chance to score a prized piece.<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of Gallery 1988)<\/p>\n

Perhaps most famously, the gallery collaborated with studios to create art-focused campaigns around properties such as \u201cThe Avengers\u201d and \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens,\u201d while also launching solo shows from artists like Scott C, Luke Chueh and Tom Whalen.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gallery 1988 was renowned for selling work that ranged in price from $10 into the thousands, enabling customers from around the world to buy pieces that spoke to them, whether a postcard-sized digital print or a large oil-on-canvas painting.<\/p>\n

A number of other galleries have closed in recent months across Los Angeles, including Blum, Nino Mier Gallery, Clearing, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery and L.A. Louver. Sutton says that she\u2019s heard through the gallery grapevine that \u201ceven galleries that haven\u2019t closed are struggling,\u201d adding that \u201cit\u2019s a hard time for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though there\u2019s never one reason a business closes, some industry observers<\/a> and art fans<\/a> have cited the rise in AI-generated content potentially devaluing original art overall. It\u2019s especially true in the pop culture space, with consumer activity down not just at places like Gallery 1988 but also at events such as WonderCon in Anaheim<\/a>, where artists could often expect to make a good chunk of change.<\/p>\n

Jensen Karp, who co-founded Gallery 1988 with Sutton but stepped back after a health scare nearly two years ago, says that while he certainly sees a \u201cmalaise in culture because of AI\u201d that\u2019s indicative of the population \u201closing the understanding of what true art is,\u201d he wouldn\u2019t attribute the collapse of Gallery 1988 solely to that one thing.<\/p>\n

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Kristin Tercek \u201cRejoice\u201d 2015 for the \u201cForce Awakens\u201d show with Disney, LucasFilm and Unicef at Gallery 1988.<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Kristin Tercek \/ courtesy of Gallery 1988)<\/p>\n

\u201cOur customer base was the people who looked up release dates and who went to the Arclight, and that sense of community is just not there anymore post-pandemic,\u201d Karp says. With the entertainment industry struggling in L.A. as well, that means less disposable income floating around for things like art \u2014 especially from the kinds of people who might be inclined to buy a portrait of, say, Steve Martin in the movie \u201cThe Jerk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Simkins<\/a>, a California based artist who often sold through Gallery 1988 under the name \u201cCRAOLA,\u201d says he\u2019s felt the impact of the entertainment industry\u2019s contraction firsthand. \u201cPeople like directors, producers and actors were some of our biggest clients,\u201d Simkins says. \u201cAll of the sudden they\u2019re leaving, going to places like Atlanta and Canada. AI is screwing up the movie industry too, and those are the kinds of people who had expendable money to buy original art so it trickles down.\u201d<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t help that there\u2019s more pop culture-centered art floating around now, and not just on sites like Instagram and Etsy. Though Gallery 1988 was a frontrunner in celebrating popular culture through art when it opened, even hosting a \u201cRick and Morty\u201d-themed show before the Adult Swim series had a lick of merchandise, it also became a proof of concept for companies including Disney and Netflix, which have started selling their own artist-created material inspired by their properties.<\/p>\n

And with Hollywood releasing fewer movies into theaters, the base of what Gallery 1988 artists could pay tribute to also began to contract. Frequent gallery contributor Whalen says that when Gallery 1988 opened, it was filling a niche and \u201ccreating fresh content for movies that spoke to\u201d people in their 20s and 30s. Over time, though, art that celebrated properties like \u201cGhostbusters,\u201d \u201cBack to the Future\u201d and \u201cThe Goonies\u201d started to overwhelm the market, causing \u201ca lot of the 1970s and \u201880s movies to become stale,\u201d Whalen says.<\/p>\n

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Scott C\u2019s \u201cBreaking Bad Upon the Mount,\u201d 2012, for the \u201cBreaking Bad Art Project: With Sony and Vince Gilligan\u201d at Gallery 1988.<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Scott C. \/ courtesy of Gallery 1988)<\/p>\n

While Sutton and Karp both say they\u2019re beyond grateful that they got to open Gallery 1988 in the first place, let alone keep it open for more than 20 years, they\u2019re worried about what closing the gallery will mean to some of their contributing artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many incredible artists out there and there are so many more places for them to show their work now and that\u2019s amazing,\u201d Sutton says. \u201cBut with that bombardment of media from everywhere, it\u2019s hard to really see stuff because it\u2019s coming at you from all directions. So many artists are out there trying to make a living and support their families and that\u2019s just becoming harder and harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many of the artists we showed never expected to have an art gallery email them,\u201d Karp says. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of all the artists we worked with and what we were able to do, but I also know that [Gallery 1988 shutting down] closes up an avenue for all of them too and that sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n