Combo Attack: 25 Years of Street Fighter

Combo Attack: 25 Years of Street Fighter 

During the dates of August 3rd to August 19th, 2012. Iam8Bit Gallery in Echo Park. Over 50 artists put up their quarters and paid homage to the coin-op brawler that started it all. Combo Attack: 25 Years of Street Fighter is a group art exhibition in a array of multiple mediums and a coinciding pop-up shop that celebrates this arcade classic.

Capcom's "Street Fighter" made its debut in the arcades from Japan in 1987. It was designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto. The player took control of the martial artist Ryu, who competed in a worldwide martial arts tournament, spanning five countries and ten opponents. A second player could join in at any time and take control of Ryu's rival, Ken. The player could perform three types of punch and kick attacks (which varied in speed and strength) and three special attacks: the "Hadouken, Shoryuken and Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku". These were performed by executing special button combinations with the controls. "Street Fighter II: World Warrior", released in 1991, was the first true sequel to the original Street Fighter. 

The release of the game had an unexpected impact on gaming and was the beginning of a massive phenomenon. By 1993, sales of "Street Fighter II" exceeded $1.5 billion in revenue,^[equivalent to $2.32 billion in 2011. "Street Fighter II" was the first one-on-one fighting game to give players a choice from a variety of player characters with different moves, an option which created hitherto unknown levels of depth and replay value for an arcade game. Each player character had a fighting style with approximately 30 or more moves (including then-new grappling moves such as throws) as well as two or three special attacks per character.

This multimillion dollar and multimedia franchise has expanded into other coin-op successors with "Street Fighter Alpha Series" (1995), "Street Fighter EX Series" (1996), "Versus Series" (1996), "Street Fighter III" (1997) and most recently "Street Fighter IV" (2008). 

Below are selected shots from this well rounded exhibit: 

Ken

 

 Ryu

 Dhalsim

 Collage

 Zangief

 Chun-Li

 Ryu

 8bit parking lot fun

 M. Bison

 "Hadouken"

 "Game On"

 K.O.

Chun-Li & Blanka

 E. Honda

 Ken & Ryu BFF

Guile

 M. Bison

 Blanka

 Sagat

 Fight!

 Dhalsim

Vega

 Zangief

 Street Fighter mobile

 Round 1

 Street Fighter

 E. Honda

 Chun-Li

 Guile

 Ryu

 Balrog

 Ryu vs. M. Bison

 Red Sonja

 Dhalsim

 Chun-Li

"We Can Do It!"

Dhalsim vs. Ryu

Street Fighter crowd backdrop for photo-ops

 25 Years of Street Fighter

Graffiti mural

iam8bit

 Arcade promos from the pop-up shop

 Coin-op game placard for sale

Various editions and styles

iam8bit Gallery

2147 W. Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, Ca. 90026

iam8bit.com 

Andy Warhol x Campbell's Soup 50th Anniversary Cans

Andy Warhol x Campbell's Soup 50th Anniversary Tomato Soup Cans

The world's biggest soup maker introduced special edition cans of its condensed tomato soup bearing labels reminiscent of pop artist's Andy Warhol paintings at Target stores starting this past Sunday September 1st, 2012. The 1.2 million cans will cost .75 cents each. which sold out rather fast in the surrounding Los Angeles area. Crowds gathered and lines formed before some Target stores even opened at 9:00am. The promotion comes as Campbell looks to turn around its struggling soup business after years of declining sales. The company plans to introduce dozens of new products this year. The cans to be sold at Target will come in four color schemes, with famed Warhol quotes, such as "In the future, everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes."

Campbell Soup's embrace of Warhol's iconic imagery is a switch from its initial reaction to Warhol's use of the cans in a painting, when the company considered taking legal action before deciding to see how the paintings were received by the public. "There's some evidence to show there was a little bit of concern," said Jonathon Thorn, an archivist for Campbell Soup. "But they decided to take a wait-and-see approach."

By 1964, however, the company realized the paintings were becoming a phenomenon and embraced the depictions. Campbell's marketing manager even sent Warhol a letter expressing admiration for his work.

"I have since learned that you like tomato soup," William MacFarland wrote in the letter. "I am taking the liberty of having a couple cases of our tomato soup delivered to you."

Later that same year, Campbell commissioned Warhol to do a painting of a can of Campbell's tomato soup as a gift for its retiring board chairman, Oliver G. Willits; Warhol was paid $2,000 for the work. Campbell also invited the artist to visit its headquarters in Camden, N.J., although Thorn said there's no indication a visit ever took place.

The red-and-white Campbell label made its debut in 1898. Significant changes to the front of the can have been made only a handful of times since then. After Warhol completed the Campbell boardroom painting, the company had no further contact with him until 1985, when the company commissioned the famed artist to paint packages of its new dry soup mixes for advertisements. Warhol died about two years later.

In 1993, the company bought a Warhol painting of one of its tomato soup cans to hang in the boardroom of its headquarters. The company also has a licensing agreement with the Warhol estate to sell clothing, magnets and other gear, mostly overseas, bearing the artist's renditions.

Campbell has sold Warhol-inspired cans on two other occasions, although on much smaller scales. In 2004, the company sold 75,000 four-packs of Warhol-inspired cans at Giant Eagle, a Pittsburgh-based supermarket operator. During the holiday season in 2006, the company sold 12,000 units at Barney's, a high-end department store, in New York.