With more than a month left until the Season 4 premiere, Game of Thrones fans are hungry for any tidbits they can get about the show. This year, though, that wait has a silver lining, at least in the Seattle area: Fans can get early access to Westeros with an official gallery show based on A Song of Ice and Fire.
“Winter Is Coming” opened this weekend at Seattle’s LTD. Art Gallery and runs through March 23; on display is a wide swath of interpretations of the book series and show, ranging from contemporary pop art to Vallejo-esque fantasy.
The latter is a departure for the gallery, but when the saga’s creator George R.R. Martin likes it, you go with it. “It’s something George really gravitates towards,” says James Monosmith, the gallery’s owner. “So I wanted to created that juxtaposition between these high-fantasy stylized pieces and a more modern approach.”
Monosmith planned the show with Martin’s input, ultimately ending up with an eclectic collection that ranges from a vintage travel-style poster for Dragonstone to a portrait of Daenerys Targaryen that echoes the cover for Duran Duran’s album Rio.
In all, more than 70 artists contributed to the show, thanks to a combination of personal recommendations from Martin—including talent that worked on various Song of Ice and Fire games, art books, and calendars—and Monosmith’s eye for the offbeat.
As a fan himself (he’s read the books multiple times over the past decade), Monosmith didn’t have much of a decision to pursue the show. “This was kind of a no-brainer for us,” he said.
Though “Winter Is Coming” is only LTD.’s second time producing a show based on literary source material, the gallery is no stranger to pop-culture influence. Since its opening in 2011, it has shown homages to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Family Guy, and Bungie’s upcoming videogame Destiny
For artist Jen Zee, who participated in the show, there isn’t a lot of difference between fan expression and fine art. “If it looks like it can belong in a gallery, if it’s a beautiful piece, who cares what the subject matter is?” says Zee, whose work can be seen next in Supergiant Games’ upcoming PS4 videogame Transistor. “There’s plenty of fine art out there that’s just fan art of the Bible—they’re all just painting Jesus.”
It’s freedom to pursue a vision that matters, not a sense of what is or isn’t “art," says Nicolas Delort. “I think that's why a lot of artists do fan art of the books,” he says. “We want to see Jaime in his garish golden armor, we want to see Dragonstone in its full dragonified glory, we want the Fist of the First Men to look like an actual fist.”
That’s the beauty of the show, says Monosmith: “It gives the artist a chance to flex their imagination. They don’t have the crutch of what it looks like in real life, so they have to play with technique and come up with something really cool—they help your imagination explore the world.”
Of course, fans who have only watched Game of Thrones on HBO, and are thus only three books through the five-book series (on its way to seven) could be putting themselves at risk. “That’s the fun—and the not-fun— part," says Monosmith. “You might get spoiled.”
Just steer clear of anything that says "Red Viper" and you'll be fine.
