It seems like everywhere we turn right now, some sort of Oscars-themed drop is taking place:  Gallery 1988’s got a three-day poster-palooza planned for the coming weekend, Mondo’s presumably hard at work on this year’s crop of Oscars Night poster drops (fingers crossed for a Stout Django Unchained), and—last but certainly not least—Hero Complex Gallery has their own Oscars-themed show on deck:  Oscar Legends brings together new art from Craig Drake, Cuyler Smith, Alice Lin, Bruce Yan, Blunt Graffix, James Rheem Davies, and a number of other artists regularly featured here at Limited Paper.  Wanna see some of what’s going to be available when the show opens this Friday?  Meet me after the jump, folks.

‘Tis the season for the Oscars, so it only makes sense that film-geek-friendly galleries and poster-producers everywhere would be planning shows based around Hollywood’s biggest night.  Last week was all about the lead-up to Gallery88’s big Oscar-related announcement, but today we’re here to discuss the forthcoming Oscar Legends show opening via our friends at the Hero Complex Gallery in San Francisco.  But the show doesn’t end with Oscars Legends:  this is also Hero Complex Gallery’s chance to show off phase two of their Weapon of Choice series.  Per the press release:

On one side of the gallery “Oscar Legends” will feature art inspired by some of history’s most groundbreaking Oscar-winning films. Annie Hall will be there, as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And Once they’ve heard about it, The Usual Suspects will probably come from as far as Chinatown and Casablanca to see this exhibit in all it’s Glory. Put down your Pulp Fiction and come witness all this American Beauty for yourself! Longtime film and art-lover, Rotten Atom, has graciously agreed to help curate the show, and we couldn't be more excited!

On the other side of the gallery, we will be presenting “Weapon of Choice, Phase 2!” Our Weapon of Choice show in January proved to be such a huge hit with the fans and the artists that we will be presenting all new art from artists who wanted to take a stab at this sweeping eclectic theme. New subjects will be tackled with great enthusiasm by Blunt Graffix, Godmachine, Nicole Gustafsson, Chris B. Murray, Marie Bergeron, Joey Spiotto, Alex R. Kirzhner, and David Welker, just to name a few. Oh, and Craig Drake just might have a new piece in the show too that you won’t want to miss!

Last night, they shot along a preview of the show’s lineup, which made for a helluva wakeup this morning:  I can say without hesitation that coffee goes better with new artwork from folks like Craig Drake, Bruce Yan, Blunt Graffix, and James Rheem Davies.  Let’s take a look starting with an exclusive look at Craig Drake’s latest piece (all titles provided are for the films each poster is based on, not the final title for each piece):

  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Craig Drake

In addition to this brand-new Crouching Tiger piece, Hero Complex Gallery will also be giving away one of Craig Drake’s signed RJ Macready prints…the first in the edition, to be exact.  You’ll have to be at the gallery in order to win it, but let’s take another look at what that print looks like:

  • RJ Macready by Craig Drake
  • Signed #1 edition screenprint, winnable by attending HCG’s Oscar Legends show

What else is on offer?  Take a look:

  • Raiders of The Lost Ark by Ale Giorgini

  • Monsters Inc by Bruce Yan
  • Glows in The Dark

  • The Hurt Locker by Cuyler Smith

  • Psycho by Adam Chung

  • Once by Alice Lin

  • Drive by Ben Thomas

  • Annie Hall by Elli Pope

  • Bladerunner by James Rheem Davies

*Chinatown by New Flesh

If you’re interested in attending Hero Complex Gallery’s latest show, you can head on over to this page to get signed up for the show, and if you’re not able to attend you can sign up for Hero Complex Gallery’s mailing list—which’ll tell you when the various screenprints and OGs that don’t sell during the show will be available online—by heading over to this page.  This is a pretty serious collection Hero Complex has put together, and we can’t wait to see what else they’ve got in store for opening night this Friday.

Until then: as is always the case around here, if you’re an artist or gallery with artwork you’d like to see featured on Limited Paper (or if you’re just some lucky bastard who happened to overhear a bit of poster-related gossip while standing in the bushes outside Martin Ansin’s house) we wanna hear from you!  Email Limited Paper directly at LimitedPaper@gmail.com, and be sure that you’re following us on Twitter via @LimitedPaper for ongoing commentary, news updates, giveaways, and more!