Electric Football Art Show in Richmond, Virginia during Redskins Training Camp

[BOPST]

I've spent the last 8 months putting this together. The show will be up during Redskins training camp (The gallery is less than a mile from camp) so I hope Redskins Nation will stop by and check it out.

 

Here's our press release:

“Electric Football Game Art Show”
Presented By: Chris Bopst and The Ada Gallery
August 2nd-September 13th, 2013

Opening Night: Friday August 2nd, 7-9PM.

Admission: FREE

Ada Gallery 228 W. Broad St. Richmond, Va. 23220

http://www.adagallery.com/Electric_Football_Ada_Gallery.html

Invented in 1947, the electro-magnetic tabletop game "Electric
Football" was the analog precedent to the modern day video game.  Famous
for it's vibrating board (& humm) the players wended their way
across the field in a slow and wiggly, quivering style. It had a huge
resergence in the 1970's and with it's various versions over time,
Electric Football has continued to  inspire legions of enthusiasts,
appreciation societies, and playing leagues which are active today. It's
easy to see the charm of this game, through its grand sense of history,
nostalgia, and culture for bygone eras with it's old school mechanical,
hand-held controls versus the blinding speed of current video games
which often leave too little space for the imagination to roam.

 Many of these Electric Football enthusiasts paint in
painstaking detail the plastic figurines and boards which they buy
online or hobby shops, whether vintage or new, creating miniture
replicas of their heroes, favorite team or conference. Some of these
artists hand-carve plastic or wood creating completely home-made
figures.  These artists, hobbyists, players & fans keep the game
alive and provide a link to an earlier, perhaps more innocent lost era
of American culture in which the collective dreams of small,
tightly-knit communities and families lived and breathed these pastimes,
sharing glory or defeat. In its miniaturized version personalized for
the home, each individual player is able to deploy his or her own
abilities in the game’s cerebral chess-like strategy and maneuvers along
to the switched-on hum of the game’s electric motor, in a captivating
approximation of the true, physical game of football it is modeled from.

 From the now quaint, old-fashioned leather-helmeted
styles of mid-twentieth century adornments to the fully padded and
highly designed professional gear and uniforms of today, Electric
Football has changed with the times. Among many artifacts collected for
this exhibition, THE ELECTRIC FOOTBALL GAME  ART SHOW will also display
approx. 1,000 hand painted figurines offering glimpses into the
evolution of the game and the culture within. 

We hope the current exhibition will appeal equally to
long-time enthusiasts of the game and to those learning of it here for
the first time.

 

Featured in the show will be vintage games, teams and figures dating back to the 1950’s as well as over 1,000 hand painted figures, teams and playing fields made by people (or “coaches” as they call themselves) who play the game today. Also, author Earl Shores will be there for the opening promoting his new 655-page, comprehensive history of electric football called “The Unforgettable Buzz” (For more information: http://www.theunforgettablebuzz.com/). Many of the hand-crafted items will be on sale with price ranges from $20 to $1,000.

 

Again, I hope Redskins Nation will stop by and check it out. Feel free to ask me any questions if you any.

 

HTTR!

BOPST

 

[Stugein]

This sounds really cool.

[Dan T.]

This would be a nice side trip from training camp, to cool off and see some old school electronic football art.  Are you planning any way to spread the word (singage, handouts) to people at training camp?

[BOPST]

Yeah, I'll be doing some of that. I live less than a mile from training camp. I hope Redskins Nation can make it out (I've got some cool handmade Skins figures and teams). The show is going to be straight up awesome.

[BOPST]

Just got word that everybody involved with the making of the book "The Unforgettable Buzz" will be in Richmond for the opening of the exhibit.

 

http://www.theunforgettablebuzz.com/2013/07/17/the-entire-unforgettable-buzz-team-will-be-in-richmond-on-82/

 

PYSCHED!

[BOPST]

Alright, The Elctric Football Game Art Show opens tomorrow night (Friday August 2nd), 6-9PM, at the ADA GAllery in Richmond, Virginia. The gallery is less than a mile from Redsins training camp and will be available for free viewing until September 13th. I hope Skins Nation can come out.

 

HTTR!

 

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