Everyone loves a good amusement park. But it takes a special kind of nerd to appreciate a fake amusement park. Some are big and popular (such as Jurassic Park or Westworld), some are a little more subtle (Arctic World or Pacific Playland), and others are just from The Simpsons. Either way, they’re all in this brand new art show.
Crop of Monkey Island by Scott Balmer. All Images: Gallery 1988
The show is called “Fake Theme Parks” and it debuts Friday, January 12 at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles. Fifty artists created a huge variety of work based on parks from TV, movies and video games. We talked to the show’s curator, Chogrin, for some insight and to secure a ton of awesome art for you to check out.
Now, if you are scratching your head about a few of these, Itchy & Scratchy Land, Krustyland, and Duff Gardens are from The Simpsons; Anatomy Park is from Rick and Morty; Brisbyland is from Venture Bros.; Arctic World is from Batman Returns; Funland is from Scooby-Doo; Monkey Island is from the game of the same name (by Lucasarts); Walley World is from Vacation; and Pacific Playland (not pictured) is from Zombieland.
“The idea of Fake Theme Parks came about one day when I was in Disneyland,” Chogrin said via email. “I grew up with both Disney World & Disneyland and am a fan of every aspect of the parks. These places have become a staple of our modern culture and will be here to stay for decades to come. That is why I thought it would be fun to create/add to theme parks that are either parodies of Disney or I wish really existed. I also gotta give credit to Michael Crichton, who has given popular culture two of the best fake theme parks ever: Westworld and Jurassic Park.”
We’re guessing you know what Jurassic Park and Westworld are from.
The show opens at 7:00PM local time on January 12 in Los Angeles, and you can find more info here. All remaining art will go online the next day at the same link.