HK5corner Hidden Gems: Mother Bluth Has Arrived
Picture it, it’s 2012 and the first HK5corner kitchen remodel has finished and the perfect little spot for a painting presents itself under a small shelf to hold keys and wallets. Shortly after the shelf goes up, I receive delivery from Gallery 1988. In the package are two art pieces I had recently purchased from the gallery’s June group show that was themed on the tv show Arrested Development. The shows three season run ended in 2006, three seasons we were obsessed with. In early 2012, news broke the cast was all returning to the Bluth model home and Banana Stand for one more season in 2013. As a boost in the media, Gallery 1988 organized an Arrested Development group show.
Close up of “Mother Bluth” by Luke Lombardo
The two pieces I purchased have two of my two favorite characters on the show. The first piece is an original painting by Tim Maclean, titled “That Is Not How A Chicken Sounds…" The painting is of Tony Hale’s character, Buster Bluth. In doing background research on the two pieces, I’ve realized, I have another great post opportunity on Maclean’s work. More on that next time. Then we have the second piece, which is a giclee print on canvas. When the piece arrived, I thought it was actually a painting and the gallery mislabeled the piece online. At closer inspection, the piece, titled “Mother Bluth” by Luke Lombardo was in fact a printed giclee print on canvas.
In researching these two pieces, I ran into a small wall for both artists in this delivery. Both no longer have any presence on the internet as an artist. For example Luke Lombardo had a couple of articles published about his work as far back as 2013. Then nothing! On the brighter side of my search, I found two new amazing artists I would love to add to our collection, Joe Lombardo and Holly Lombardo, both are great abstract landscape artists. But I digress, let go back to the pop surrealism pieces. Looking into Luke’s body of work, it was an empty search. This was not an expensive piece and looking at it today, its more a fan art piece because some it could have been photoshop adjacent. We are talking about pre-AI to Gen Alphas. Regardless, I love this piece, and is one of my most cherished pieces in the collection.
A 1930’s reworking of the original artwork from 1920-21.
Now to explain this artwork. If it looks familiar when standing afar, that’s because this piece is based on a Marcello Dudovich poster art made for Martini & Rossie starting back in 1910. Now the Vermouth Bianco poster has some conflicting origins. Some historians say the poster was first printed around 1930. While some say the first print of the poster was not until 1957. The printing of the poster in various variations continued through the 1960’s. After some digging, I found an italian archive site for Dudovich’s work. The original chromolithograph was done sometime in 1920-1921. One of the original printings of this poster is in the collection at the National Museum in Treviso, Italy. Dudovich, during this period lived in Munich and eventually returned to Italy after WWI began to break out. This poster was created while living in Turin, Italy.
My print by Luke Lombardo depicts my second favorite member of the Bluth clan, on Arrested Development. The amazing Lucille Bluth, played by the talented Jessica Walter (Unaccompanied Minors). From her bitchy comments to her kids, grandchildren and nemesis, the other Lucille, Lucille Austero, played by the GOAT, Liza Minelli. To her impeccable timing and wardrobe. Even my mother loved this character. The painting was framed at City Frames in SF and sat up on that wall for over a decade, before HK5corner went under construction. It was one of the first pieces to go up after we moved back into the house. It was also home to a stash of cash for a decade. Not anymore. Don’t bother looking, we found a new place to hide money in the house!
“Storm Trooper Rainbow Black” Luke Lombardo - credit Jason Kincaid
With Mother Bluth back where she belongs at HK5corner, I am still itching to find out what happened to Luke Lombardo. My hope is to figure out a way to reach out to him and see how he is doing and to share how much I love this wonderful conversation starter. Having the amazing Lucille looking over me in the kitchen while I cook every day, is comforting. I did manage to reach out to one author/tech crunch guru, who was gifted one of Lombardo’s painting back in 2012. My hope is I get a response with a possible email address for Luke. Finger crossed. For now, lets just raise our glass to the amazing Mother Bluth.