THE LOST ART OF HOLLYWOOD … FOUND

ScreenUsed launching the Film & Television Production Art Gallery website.

On Thursday, September 17th, 2009, ScreenUsed launched its new Production Art Gallery website, "The world's first virtual Art Gallery, solely dedicated to original film & television production artwork."

In the planning stages at ScreenUsed (http://www.screenused.com/) for some time now, the Production Art Gallery website (www.ProductionArtGallery.com) features for sale only hand-rendered, original film & television artwork, including: concept art, storyboards, costume designs, matte paintings, blueprints/schematics, photographs, publishing & merchandising art, and rare advertising art; many rendered by some of Hollywood's most revered artists and even some living legends. Original art that will be featured on the website will be dated from the 1960's to the present day.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Indiana Jones Head Study

Shown above is an original Star Wars poster art comp for a limited edition poster and an original Indiana Jones pencil study by the talented Lucasfilm alumni artist Lawrence Noble. Revered for his movie poster art, as well as fine-art bronzes.

"We have always felt that this is a category of original film and television memorabilia that has not really gotten the full appreciation it's due.", said Desi DosSantos, ScreenUsed's President / Co-founder and the curator of the Production Art Gallery. "Props, costumes, miniatures and special effects make-up and creatures have received most of the attention over the past few decades, but we have found original production art has often been vastly underestimated in regard to its long term historical and investment value, and are very excited at ScreenUsed taking the lead position in promoting this important, lost art form.", added DosSantos.

"ScreenUsed has offered many fine examples of production art over the years on our main website, but we feel in order to truly celebrate and pay homage to the incredible work of these often unknown and unheralded artists, and to educate the public as to the importance of this art form, a website dedicated solely to film art deserved to be created. So we undertook the challenge.", explained DosSantos.

X-Men - Magneto Early Costume Design

Depicted above are conceptual vehicle designs by the acclaimed conceptual artist Tim Flattery, for the blockbuster films: Back to the Future II, Batman Forever and an early costume design for the character Magneto from the first X-Men movie.

ScreenUsed's goal is to offer a comprehensive selection of original entertainment industry artwork from a diverse variety of categories, showcasing the importance these works played in the creation of some of Hollywood's most successful, classic and cult properties. The inaugural launch of the website includes original art from the 1960's Irwin Allen classic televivion series Lost in Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, along with Allen productions including The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. Other fine examples from classic and cult films include: Aliens, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Batman Returns, Goonies, Gremlins, Flash Gordon, Tarzan: the Legend of Greystoke, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, Space Balls, A Christmas Story, and Terminator 2 Judgment Day, just to name a few.

 Lost in Space - June Lockhart Costume Design

Featured above is a poster comp for the cult-classic Flash Gordon rendered by Lawrence Noble and a rare original costume design of Maureen Robinson from the classic television series Lost in Space, rendered by the talented Paul Zastupnevich.

"We will only feature hand-rendered artwork. No xeroxes, color copies, computer-scans, or copies of any kind. Each piece is a 100% original, one-of-a-kind piece. This is a first in the Hollywood Memorabilia industry. as well when possible each Certificate of Authenticity will also be signed by the original artist, or for those artists no longer with us, the person handling their estate." explained DosSantos.

One piece that was recently discovered by ScreenUsed is the key art for the "Trust Him" movie poster one-sheet of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. This was painted in 1984, and has been missing and never shown publicly in 25 years. "It is a modern-day masterpiece of advertising art, rendered by a very talented artist named Chris Hopkins. No one really knew who painted the original, and remarkably only the upper half of the original painting was used in the one-sheet poster. So we are exhibiting it for the very first time publicly." explained DosSantos.

Shown above is the original key art for the Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom "Trust Him" Advance movie poster.

ScreenUsed recently expanded its facilities to a 5,000 square foot state of the art facility that boasts a custom matte and frame shop in an addition to its already highly respected custom Plexi-glas display case shop. Under the supervision of ScreenUsed's co-founder and Production Art Gallery curator Jeff Castillo, their hand made custom display cases have raised the bar on Hollywood memorabilia displays.

"Original Production Art is affordable, easy to authenticate, simple to matte and frame for long-term preservation, easy to display, doesn't take up that much room and best of all compliments suites of costumes, props and miniatures." said Castillo. "We are thrilled to bring this part of the entertainment industry to the forefront for people to recognize, appreciate and enjoy."

The cornerstone collections of the Production Art Gallery's preview launch are fine selections from the estates of legendary film movie poster one-sheet artist John Alvin (E.T., Blade Runner, Gremlins, Darkman etc.). Alvin is in the pantheon of legendary movie poster illustrators of the 20th century.

Depicted above are original pieces of artwork featuring the Star Wars characters from the art series "Guardians of the Legacy", concept art for the Darkman movie poster one-sheet, and a pencil study comp for the hit Disney film Enchanted, all executed by the late great master illustrator John Alvin.

Other original pieces of artwork that will be featured will include those from the estate of Irwin Allen's brilliant designer & producer Paul Zastupnevich, who if you are a fan of any Irwin Allen film or television series, know the designer should be a household name. Mr. Zastupnevich was the costume and often the creature designer on many of Allen's most beloved productions, including those mentioned above.

"An original Irwin Allen production design like the "giant cyclops" from Lost in Space being discovered after 45 years? Shown for the first time? That is what it is all about. Historic finds like this and being able to offer the piece for sale. It's extraordinary.", DosSantos exclaimed.

"We think the ever-rising prices in original advertising art, book illustrations, fantasy and comic book art are significant signs that there is great potential in the collecting of and investment worthiness of original film & television production art."

Battlestar Galactica - TV Guide Final Contour Drawing

Featured above is an original pencil comp for a TV Guide cover from 1978, featuring the classic Battlestar Galactica TV series, rendered by the famous illustrator David Edward Byrd.

"The Production Art Gallery is an important subsidiary of ScreenUsed and we have many fascinating plans for it in the near future." promised DosSantos. "We invite collectors, enthusiasts, students, scholars and the media to stop by for a visit. It's literally a virtual museum of unseen artwork; much of it an important part of film and television history.