WINTER IS HERE: A GAME OF THRONES ART SHOW @ SPOKE ART [SF]

Reuben Negron
“The Night’s King”
watercolor on paper
6″ x 9″

I clearly remember stumbling back to the campground after spending a long tiresome day in the heat of the Sasquatch! Music Festival. The wind was cool now, whipping around in the night as the mob lurched back up the hill in one giant mass, scattering back to their vehicles to find something to eat, and crash out in their tents under the stars. It was day 3 and I was worn out, but It was the good type of exhaustion where you feel like you’ve accomplished something for the day. This was 2012 and it was a pretty solid lineup. I caught Charles Bradley doing an early set the day before and St Vincent, for the first time ever, earlier this very evening. Spiritualized would close out a side stage the following/final day. I’d, initially, considered bailing on the fest, even with my comped media passes, and I was just starting to really reflect on my decision, feeling pretty good about choosing to make the trip. That’s when some folks passed by me and I distinctly heard a young woman bemoan the fact that they would be missing that night’s episode of Game Of Thrones. A TV show. Really? You’d rather be sitting on your couch, right now?

Those who haven’t been sucked into the program don’t understand how deeply it can pull you in. I’d heard the hype, so the lady and I tried to watch a few episodes, here and there, by tuning into HBO early, before East Bound & Down came on. It didn’t seem like there was much there, but the truth is that we were sauntering into the middle of a complex world where there was so much that we couldn’t comprehend it. The characters were all connected, but by that point, they’d all spread out across the map on their own journeys. Then, one day, we decided to watch it from the beginning. “OH! That guy out in the snow covered wilderness is related to him?! Did they just push that kid off of the tower and paralyze him?! What the fuck?!” We were done for. We definitely, GoT it — or, it GoT us, depending on how you look at it. Now I have the luxury of avoiding social media like the plague, if I ever miss an episode, in the event that some inconsiderate clown is on another spoiler tirade.

One person that I knew who wasn’t completely sold on the program was my brother. Like others I’ve heard dismiss it out of ignorance, he was turned away by the idea of “fantasy” and dragons. That’s fine if it’s not his jam, but he would actually go out of his way to trash it constantly, and completely out of the blue. At one point, he told me that he’d tried to watch it before, but it’s nothing but boobs and people getting their heads chopped off. I responded by explaining that I really didn’t see the problem with that, along with the fact that — even if that were true, it’s not a bad selling point. “Don’t watch it.” I’d tell him calmly. “It doesn’t shake me or the millions of other people that know what’s up. I have way too much confidence in the fact that you have no idea what you’re talking about.” What was odd were the sort of assumptions that he’d have regarding things like a supposed lack of depth in characters and storyline, when the exact opposite isn’t only true, but exactly the foundation of what the entire program rests on. I don’t know what made him do it, but, one day, he decided to watch the show when it was streaming on Amazon. He got hooked. It didn’t take long. Then, midway through the third or fourth season, Amazon removed it. He couldn’t handle it. In fact, he went and paid for HBO, just so that he could keep watching. That’s what he’ll be doing the Sunday after next, and, as he told me today, if he’s unable to watch the premiere episode of this next and final season, because too many people decided to use his password to log into his HBO NOW account, he’s going to lose his shit.

There’s something to be said for a TV show that can take a nearly 2 year hiatus before returning for their last season, and still maintain the momentum and interest at peak levels. It holds up, because it’s art. It’s a period piece, outside of time. And that’s why other artists can truly appreciate it, because the dedication to quality that’s so apparent behind it, is nothing short of awe inspiring. As the new season continues to roll up sloooowly, Spoke Art is providing a quick taste of something to tide us over, a week before it returns to the airwaves. The group show, Winter Is Here, will bring together 100 international visual artists to re-imagine the world of the most awarded series in Emmy Awards history through a 2 Day pop-up exhibit at Spoke Art‘s flagship gallery location in San Francisco. The show will only run over the weekend of Saturday, March 6 through Sunday the 7th, so… if you’re in the area, make sure to drop in and check it out.

Check out a selection of preview images below the following event details…