Awesome artistic interpretations of how Darth Vader should look.

September 3, 2010 by Tony in Art

Darth Vader, the Empire’s evil enforcer, the dark lord of the Sith, and Luke Skywalker’s father, made many a viewer shudder. His eerie appearance produced goose bumps and made the hair stand on end. Without any doubt, Darth Vader is the greatest screen villain to have ever been created.

The iconic movie villain inspired Dov Kelemer and Sarah Jo Marks, curators of DKE Toys, to conceptualize ‘The Vader Project’. The Vader Project allowed the hottest underground and pop surrealist artists to re-imagine the Darth Vader helmet in their personal, eclectic style. The artists were given a 1:1 authentic prop replica of the helmet, which they used as blank canvases to express their particular take on the dark lord.

The original idea for the project occurred to Kelemer and Marks in 2005, and the first exhibition of the truly imaginative Vader helmets took place in 2007. 100 artists took part. Each year thereafter another 100 would participate, and the resulting works would then go on display in an annual art exhibition. The first of these took place two years after the project began.

The majoriy of work in the 2010 Vader Project – the fourth and final -went on display in Los Angeles during June and this year’s 100 customised helmets went up for auction in Philidelphia. When the auction finally took place on July 10th, the prices that the exhibits fetched varied between $1,250 and $17,500 as there was a great deal of interest. These artists had all sought to stamp their own individuality on the helmet they had been given to work with, and some of the resulting art was truly wonderful.

As long as gifted people have the foresight and imagination to dream up crazy ideas like the Vader Project, we will have a great deal to look forward to in future when it comes to popular art. There may well be a dark side to the art world, but the real beauty of these fantastic creations is that they turn your thoughts away from what the helmets originally represented to something altogether lighter and definitely fun. I loved the idea and the execution. Long live innovative art.