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ART OF AKIRA featured at Dallas Comic Con this May 21-22
The first full showing of the ART OF AKIRA Exhibit for 2011 will take place at Dallas Comic Con, May 21-22. This already legendary exhibit, which in the past year has travelled internationally to the delight of fans everywhere, will debut it’s second phase of original art from the anime masterpiece AKIRA, a groundbreaking and widely influential work that revolutionized animation. Katsuhiro Otomo’s epic film revitalized the Japanese film industry and inspired a new generation of international artists and fervent fandom.
In a unique approach to increasing the scope of the AKIRA exhibition, curator and owner Joe Peacock will be introducing new video installations to highlight and accompany various pieces of original production art from the over 15,000 piece collection. “The past year has seen a massive response to the exhibit and its goals,” said Peacock. “What started as a boutique showing of a prestige collection has grown to a full-blown educational course in the technical and artistic mastery that went into the world’s greatest animated feature film.”
“There are entire clubs and conventions built around Anime, comics, and more,” Peacock said. “AKIRA is revered within this community as a true masterpiece, and to bring this original production art to the fans and share their enthusiasm about it has been a dream come true.”
AKIRA was an epic collaboration and full of animation firsts. Upon its release in 1988, the film was the most expensive animated feature ever made, pooling resources from several of Japan’s largest entertainment companies to complete the production. An elaborate symphonic score was written for the movie and all voice actors where recorded before principle animation began for authentic lip syncing. The stunningly fluid and detailed animation required up to nine separate cel layers, demanding over 160,000 hand-produced cels and almost as many backgrounds.
“In 2011, the historical and artistic significance of AKIRA cannot be understated,” said Mark Walters, the director of Dallas Comic Con. “As the popularity and influence of animation continues to expand, the ART OF AKIRA Exhibit gives audiences the unique opportunity to take a deeper look into this achievement in filmmaking. Each item in the exhibit has been hand selected by AKIRA expert Joe Peacock from his unrivaled collection of more than 15,000 authenticated pieces. Visitors will be given access to never-before-seen aspects of the film, from fully-displayed backgrounds, sketches and production development layouts, to the layers of cels that made up some of the most astounding scenes in the film.”
“We are delighted to be the first full exhibition installation in 2011 for this amazing collection,” Walters added.
The AKIRA Exhibit promises to captivate any fan of animation and graphic storytelling, from anime enthusiast to those witnessing Otomo’s grand vision for the fist time.
For information please visit: http://artofakira.com or http://dallascomiccon.com
Joe Peacock shows Stan "The Man" Lee some original AKIRA art at DragonCon 2010
Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff. 
