Art Review: Yellow Submarines Dock in Virginia Beach

Upon leaving my job at Cool and Eclectic Wednesday night, at Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach, I noticed pictures being unloaded from a van into the back door of the mall. Curious, I moved closer, catching a glimpse of a framed photo of Jimmy Hendrix holding a guitar note in ecstasy with his mouth open. It was a poignant announcement that the Rock Art Show had arrived. The show travels throughout the United States and posts its "Tour Dates" on its .

Show promoter Scott Segelbaum stopped by my store the next morning, sporting a T-shirt with a classic symbol of the rock and roll era: the yellow center of a 45 record. He explained that it labels him as old and added that most people do not even know what that symbol is. I explained to him that I do because I used to work at a record store.

Scott scanned my store's collection of retro furniture, celebrity pictures, comics, and other collectibles. He reminded me that Ron Campbell, an animator of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine film, would be at his show to sign autographs all weekend long. "He'll sign those for you," said Scott, pointing to my Yellow Submarine figures. And maybe some of my animation-based comics too, I thought, as I discovered Campbell had worked on a long list of animated classics from the 1960's. Rock poster artist Scotty C. was also going to be there.

Ron Campbell stopped by my store on the show’s opening day, Friday. He was dressed in neutral colors, a wide departure from the flashy colors he used in his animations. He said he would be happy to sign some things for me. An hour later, I walked to where the show was going on, several stores from mine. There were yellow submarine images everywhere, and Ron was adding color to a large Beatles cartoon on paper, when he interrupted himself to sign my Jetsons and Beetle Bailey comics. He had done animation work on the TV series of both of those comics, as well as many more.

Article Author: Larry Estes

Larry Estes is a visual artist and a writer. He honed his writing skills by writing about his art, which was selected in 2007 for the Outstanding Drawing Prize by the Director of Harvard Art Museums.

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