THE HISTORY OF "THE PICTURE OF EVERYTHING"
It all started in 1997 when I began doing a drawing of Spider-Man. This led to a drawing of other super heroes from Marvel and DC around him in the picture. Soon I had Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Spawn and The Hulk and was quickly thinking of more. Inspired by some of the works of Alex Ross and other comic book artists, I decided to try and draw as many super heroes as I could in one picture.
Soon I began to think of super heroes that were cartoon characters, such as Blue Falcon and Dynomutt and Hong Kong Phooey. If I started drawing cartoon characters, why not add all the cartoons I could think of as well? And aren't The Beatles cartoons? Then why not all the rock stars?! And movie stars! And space ships, fantasy buildings, historical figures and places! And why not all the religious figures and iconography? Think about all the famous vehicles from movies and TV, you have to put those in... And video game characters!
Soon I had all the modern and ancient wonders of the world, 157 Pokemon, reproductions of Alex Grey, MC Escher and other famous artists works (not easy to draw, let me tell you!), and as many space ships, religious figures, cartoon characters, historical figures and places, imaginary buildings, super heroes, famous vehicles, movie stars, rock stars, corporate logos, flags of the world, and robots that I could think of in one giant picture. I even included my friends and family in there for good measure. You can't leave them out, now can you?
The picture was done on 8.5 by 11 inch pieces of regular typing paper, held together by scotch tape and separated into four massive sections. These sections were each approximately 76.5 inches in width and 44 inches in length, bringing the completed picture to 76.5 by 176 inches. The drawing was done with colored pencils and Sharpies. The original is now framed in 4 sections.
After the picture was completed in August of 1999, I took it to Kinkos Reprographics in Westwood, California where they made 2 multi-page copies of the entire image. Now, the copies aren't as exact as the original, and you will see in some places that certain characters get cropped or distorted.
When this was done, Carey Long, the owner of Nova Express Cafe, my friend Erik Orser, and a group of co-workers began constructing a frame for the 50% reduction of The Picture. (The original would have been way to big to frame and display, and considering the delicacy of the original work, probably better off in storage). They made a giant 3-dimensional frame out of Plexiglass and it would go on to house my extensive collection of action figures and toys. It looked great. A picture with all the super heroes and cartoons surrounded by sculptural renderings of the same figures! It looked like a giant pop-culture altar.
We rushed to finish the construction of the frame (which took weeks) for the 1999 Coachella Festival. Thousands of people saw it there, including Perry Farrell! After Coachella, the framed version of the picture, complete with all the action figures, was put up at Nova Express. It has been there since October of 1999. You can see photos of the Nova display by clicking here.
Then I had the digital images of The Picture printed out, almost actual size, on adhesive plastic. When this was done, I wrapped the plastic around the counter at Highland Grounds restaurant in Hollywood, where it was displayed until summer of 2005.
I always wanted to put The Picture on the web, and began constructing the web site you are now looking at in August of 2000. I have added a few things: I did a few "interior" shots inside some of the space ships and buildings that have more recent characters that came out after the original picture was completed. These are illustrated lenticulars that feature the inside of The Millenium Falcon, The USS Enterprise, Miskatonic University, S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, The Supercade and Atlantis under the ocean. I have also completed a character key.
In February 2004, All the interiors as well as the original framed sections of "The Picture of Everything" were put on display at The Backstreet Gallery in Santa Monica. December 2004 saw The Picture printed on a full page of the Canadian newspaper The National Post.
In 2005, a person offered to purchase the original art for The Picture of Everything for $85,000. It turned out to be a cruel hoax, but prompted Howard Hallis to list the work on eBay. The piece also received the Yahoo Site of The Day, The Philadelphia City Paper Site of The Week and was written up in the August issue of FHM. It was also seen on the HBO series Unscripted. (See screen grab)
When the picture failed to sell at auction, Howard Hallis decided to burn it on 9-11-05. The web site and The Picture of Everything II will continue...
On October 31, 2006, Howard completed the first section in The Picture of Everything 2.
On November 25, 2007, The Picture of Everything's website was re-designed to incorporate the new Cars, People and Robots and Heroes and Cartoons sections.
Nova Express Cafe closed down in March of 2008, and the altarpiece print of The Picture of Everything (which had been up there since 1999) was taken down. That same month, Howard Hallis was interviewed about the work for the Canadian television show "The Hour" and the second Cars, People and Robots section was completed.
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