Richard Grieco is back in the spotlight to premiere his revolutionary art!

Though I've already written about Richard's upcoming show at Gallerie Sparta, I decided to share this press release as well because it offers some additional information, and, frankly, because I'm happy to see the professional promotion behind this event. 


LOS ANGELES, July 29, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ - Richard Grieco, known as a cultural icon for his masterful performance in the hit 80's sensation 21 Jump Street among other acting credits including If Looks Could Kill, Mobsters and A Night At The Roxbury, is excited to announce the opening of his one-man art exhibit, Sanctum of a Dreamer!

After a break from the industry to hone his craft on canvas, Grieco has returned as the premier artist who coined the phrase 'abstract-emotionalism'. Remarking about his style and momentous pieces, Grieco comments, "My work is capturing lightning in a bottle, it's a pure unbridled emotion. I am a painter who puts his emotions on canvas and honestly my work is as much part of my life as breathing."

Grieco, along with celebrity friends and art enthusiasts, will showcase his historic, one-of-a-kind paintings on Thursday August 15th during an opening night red carpet event at the new French international art gallery, Gallerie Sparta (8641 Sunset Blvd.) in West Hollywood on the famed Sunset Plaza. Gallerie Sparta's owner Stephan Sparta states, "Richard's passion for painting, focused over a twenty year period of personal exploration has developed into his own emotional visual language. We have been following his ascent and are excited to be the exclusive gallery to premier his explosive paintings in Los Angeles."

A portion of proceeds from sales throughout the exhibit will be donated to the Wolf Connection Foundation, a rescue sanctuary seeking to strengthen the instinctual bond between youths and animals.

For further information, media inquires or opening night media accreditation, please contact Zack Teperman - zack@lexiconpublicrelations.com

SOURCE Lexicon Public Relations

Mobsters on VHS

Back near the beginning of this journey, I watched Mobsters via Amazon streaming video. Not long afterward, though, I heard that the VHS version included footage that hadn't made it to the DVD cut for some reason. I was curious about the missing scenes for two reasons.

The first was that I'd heard Richard say in an interview, I believe on Steve Benz's The Blend, that Mobsters had been conceived as a much longer movie and that they'd filmed quite a bit more than actually made it to the big screen.

The second was that I'd read specifically that the scene in which Richard Grieco removes a woman's dress with an ice pick was considerably extended in the VHS version, and I thought that might be kind of hot was curious about how that would compare with the straight razor scene in Sexual Predator.

Bottom line: I didn't see anything new that made a big impression on me. If you've already seen the DVD version, I don't think there's anything in the VHS to warrant going out looking for it (and that includes the infamous ice pick scene.

I did like this movie, but as far as I could see the two cuts were pretty interchangeable. It's possible that if you're Serious About Film you'd catch differences that I didn't (and care about them), but for the average viewer it just didn't make a difference.

Richard Grieco at Gallerie Sparta in August

Photo courtesy of Richard Grieco. (c) 2013

If you're one of the many who have been clamoring on Twitter and in other social media outlets about wanting to see Richard's artwork in all its full-scale glory, you're in luck--at least, if you're in the Los Angeles area or willing to travel.

The Gallerie Sparta will be showing Richard's paintings from August 10 through September 1. Location and hours are posted on the Gallerie's Facebook page.

If you're not familiar with Richard Grieco's paintings, I'd strongly suggest that you take a few minutes a couple of hours to browse his website, Grieco Fine Art. Back in February, I posted about my initial response to Grieco's artwork, but even in that relatively short period of time, the paintings Richard is posting have evolved.

What intrigued me most back in the winter was that so many of his paintings appeared to have an underlying layer that had been at least partially obscured by masses of fine lines. For me, this brought to mind a person writing down his secrets and then covering them over, so they'd been poured out onto the page but remained secure. Those paintings aroused my curiosity, creating some sense that if I looked closely enough I might be able to read pieces of that obscured message.

I really liked that batch and was a little sorry to see that period fade away so quickly, but the variety that's emerged since has been just as compelling. I was recovering from surgery when Looking Through Forest Blind appeared, and I was pretty sure that I'd heal faster with that piece on my wall.  Though the title suggests that it might not have been intended this way, the fine lines and light, bright colors gave me a sunny, hopeful feeling. On the other hand, pieces like Richard's recent Self Portrait # 1 make me worry about what's going on inside the man.

The vast majority, though, simply convey bold emotion in a way that makes it clear that, whatever other talents Grieco might have, pouring his soul out onto canvas is what he was born to do. If you're interested in these paintings because you were a 21 Jump Street fan or because you happen to have noticed that the artist himself is really freaking beautiful, you're missing something. They'd hit you just as hard on the wall of a little gallery in Provincetown or a coffee shop in Chicago.

Point Doom

Like a lot of Richard's movies, this one involved a little more blood and gunfire than I usually favor. Given that, the reviews took me a little by surprise--at first.  The film has an overall 3.5 rating on IMDB, though top users (the ones who watch and review a lot of movies and therefore have a bit more perspective and consistency) rated it a little higher.  What came as a surprise, though, was that women rated the film higher than men.

Initially, I was a bit taken aback.  Drug deals, shootings, self-mutilation, tough-guy posturing and multiple strip-club scenes generally skew more toward a male audience. So does Angie Everhart. This is definitely not a chick flick.

Then, I looked a little more closely at the breakdown. The highest average, by far, came from women over the age of 45.

With that realization, I suddenly saw this not as a movie about stolen drugs and money, about gang members chasing down their disloyal brothers, or even about a relatively normal professional man getting dragged into a world he was entirely unprepared for.  No, this was a movie about a beautiful damsel in distress being...well...rescued by Richard Grieco.

He didn't just swoop in and save her life, either.  No, he whisked her away to a beautiful house, took her for a walk on the beach, made her tea, offered her his bed and then ended up sharing it with her. On further reflection, the appeal wasn't lost on me.  And even the new millennium hard-spiked hairdo couldn't quite make him look bad.

On the downside, Andrew Dice Clay was--perhaps for the only time in my experience--not funny even for a minute.  Props to Angie Everhart, though, for taking on the role of the allegedly not-so-hot sister and playing it convincingly.

Watch Richard Grieco on Celebrity Ghost Stories

The actor portraying Richard  in the  re-enactments.

If you missed Richard on Celebrity Ghost Stories, you can now watch the full episode here: Richard Grieco on Celebrity Ghost Stories.  Richard's segment is first and he gets about the same amount of time as the other two celebs combined.

Contrary to the episode description, Anthony Michael Hall does not make an appearance. The episode consists of Richard's story, a story from Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty) about moving into a house in which two teenaged brothers had killed one another and Barry Bostwick recounting an incident in which a ghost child appeared to be sharing his son's bedroom.

Visuals aside, Richard's story was the most interesting of the three on its own merits, though you may come away wanting to ask him some hard questions about the choices he made.  And, based on a Tweet he sent to Celebrity Ghost Stories after the episode first aired, there's apparently a piece of the story missing...one that,oddly enough, involves cookies.

Richard Grieco Unleashes Something Evil

If you missed Richard on Celebrity Ghost Stories last night, this clip from AOL may hold you over until you get to see the actual episode. Many seem to be posted in full on Biography's website, so I'm hopeful that the complete episode will eventually be available.

Meanwhile, you can see Richard telling one of his creepy stories in this video.  When I looked at the site, the clips were mislabeled, so if you click on the clip that says it's Richard Grieco and it isn't, look for Ana Ortiz's name (but his photograph).

It was also interesting to see the actor they chose to play Richard in days gone by--not dead on by any stretch, but I could see why they picked him.

Richard Grieco's Celebrity Ghost Story - July 6 on Biography

I'd never heard of the Biography show Celebrity Ghost Stories before this week, so I have no idea what to expect from Richard Grieco's appearance on the show this Saturday...except the little bit they tell us in the episode description: "Richard dabbles in the dark arts and pays a horrifying price."

I'm pretty sure they're not talking about his escapades in Almighty Thor.

The episode will air twice this week:

•      Saturday July 6 at 9:00PM EDT
•      Sunday July 7 at 1:00AM EDT
• That's all I have to say until we've all seen the story, but I'm pretty intrigued by that whole "horrifying price" thing, aren't you?
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