Tag Archives: game shows

John Miller’s Here in the Real World at Mary Boone Gallery

Installation View
All Photos By Gail

My memories of watching daytime TV Game Shows mostly involve being a kid who was home sick from school, or on summer vacation, because when else was I going watch them? What that means is that these memories of The Price is Right and Let’s Make a Deal are many decades in the past as this point, and yet they are quite clear and bring on a huge wave of fond nostalgia. This is probably why John Miller’s Here in the Real World, up now at the Mary Boone Gallery’s Chelsea location, resonated with me so strongly.

Here in the Real World features Miller’s Game Show Paintings (which he started painting in 1995) and his more recent series of reality TV personalities (started 2012), in which Miller selects images of people in purportedly uncontrived poses and paints them in a realist manner. Mary Boone’s cavernous room provides a perfect space for this show, which features many large scale canvases. Before I post more photos of the paintings however, I want to show you this:

Potato

Yes, that is a potato that was hanging out on the gallery’s front lobby carpet. Everybody wanted to know why there was a potato on the floor, and was it part of the show. And the answer is: I don’t know, but it is on a red carpet, so it must be important in some way.

Installation View
A Funny Forum Happened on the Way to the Thing

Paintings like the one on the far right, above, made me feel five years old instantly.

The Price Is Right

How great is this? So great.

New Car

“A Brand New Car!”

682 5 13

This is like a still frame from a dream isn’t it?

Labyrinth I
Labyrinth I

$40

What’s Behind the Door? It is a question for the ages.

Infinitesimal Eternity
Infinitesimal Eternity

The Worleygig highly recommends this exhibit.

John Miller’s Here in the Real World will be on Exhibit Through February 28th, 2015 at Mary Boone Gallery, Located at 541 West 24 Street, in the Chelsea Gallery District.

John Miller Exhibit Signage

RIP Ken Ober

remote-control-ken-ober
Ken Ober on The Set of Remote Control

In a previous life of mine, back when MTV didn’t suck balls (i.e. before you were born), I used to watch a tacky, low-budget game show on that network called Remote Control. Basically your standard Pop Culture Trivia-themed game show where contestants answered fun questions about Rock music and classic TV  shows  for points, while sitting in easy chairs flanked by bowls of snacks, Remote Control was just awesome. The show helped to launch the careers of exploitation film actress and spokesmodel Cari Wuhrer (Who? Exactly), comedian Colin Quinn and box office poison Adam Sandler, and was hosted by a guy named Ken Ober. Ken Ober continued to work in the entertainment industry in his post-Remote Control career, but never achieved the “household name” status of some of his costars: and now he’s dead. Yes, Ken Ober, best known as the former host of MTV’s Remote Control passed away over the weekend of as yet unspecified causes. He was 52. Read more on this sad story and reminisce about the rad genius that was Remote Control at This Link.