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    Review: Saturday Morning Celebration

    The Saturday morning cartoon officially died in October of 2014. This past weekend, The Vanderelli Room held a sugary cereal-fueled wake in its honor.

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    “It’s Saturday Morning Somewhere” is a tribute to the brightly colored cartoons that held generations of children in rapt attention. The group show features over a dozen artists and their interpretation of the animated characters that dominated five decades of Saturday morning television. Patrons embraced their inner child for the occasion, many arriving in robes and pajamas and enjoying the breakfast-themed snack bar.

    Speaking at the event, curator W. Ralph Walters described the show as, “Our ode to a fallen comrade.” But he was referring to more than just individual cartoons. In fact, with the proliferation of streaming services and video-on-demand, these shows are more readily available today than ever before. “It’s Saturday Morning Somewhere” is a remembrance of Saturday morning cartoons as a shared experience, a weekend ritual celebrated in living rooms across the country.

    The change in American media consumption means this specific shared ritual is a thing of the past. “Sadly, our generation is probably going to be one of the last to do something like this,” said Walters. Venue owner A.J. Vanderelli agreed, saying that “[the concept of] waiting for something has just been removed from society.”

    “Anticipation isn’t bad,” said Walters. “When I was a kid… you had to wait for after school. You had to wait for Saturday morning. It meant a little more.”

    The pieces in the show reflect this awareness of experience over individual programs. Many of the works combine elements and characters from different cartoons, blurring the lines between watched and watchers. In tone they range from satire to sweet nostalgia, but even the most biting pieces handle their subjects with a bit of gentleness. The common theme that runs throughout is the underlying love with which the artists approach this subject.

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    Familiar figures are re-imagined, such as El Kabong appearing as a grittier vigilante than Hanna-Barbera ever imagined in Rob Jones’ “Border Town Blues”. Popeye and Cap’N Crunch are both here, heavily tattooed sailors brought to life by Brent Elam. Foghorn Leghorn also makes an appearance, while The Tick invades a box of Fuity Pebbles.

    More obscure subjects such as Derek Stewart’s “The Boogeyman” (from The Real Ghostbusters) or Tiffany Christopher’s “Mina Melons” (featuring Niddler from Pirates of Dark Water) may bring back memories of characters long forgotten.

    At the far end of the gallery a towering Voltron looks over the room. Like its cartoon inspiration, it’s comprised of five smaller robots, joined together to create a warrior capable of defeating foes far more powerful than each individual. Each smaller robot is created by a different artist, unifying their strengths and styles into a larger work.

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    Patrons joined in the spirit as well, some showing their enthusiasm with pajama attire, others simply through broad grins of recognition as they looked at childhood favorites. Hoping to continue capturing this theme of shared theatrics, Walters has an upcoming show called “AWL”, or Artists Wrestling League, which will feature artists battling for a championship belt in head to head creative competition.

    If he succeeds in projects like this, Walters will be building an arts community that is, much like Voltron, greater than the sum of its parts.

    “It’s Saturday Morning Somewhere” is available for viewing by appointment through January 31st. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/thevanderelliroom.

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    Dan Stout
    Dan Stouthttp://danstout.com
    Dan Stout is a freelance writer living in Worthington. His work draws on his travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim, as well as an employment history spanning everything from ‘subpoena server’ and ‘assistant well driller’ to project manager and entrepreneur. He explores the way that storytelling shapes communication from business writing to fiction at his website, DanStout.com. In his free time, he tries to convince himself that match-3 games are somehow educational.
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