Something strange in the neighborhood: 'Ghostbusters' fan art invades New York City

Similar determination can be found up and down the line. Closer to the front door, I find friends Ed and Eugene, both accompanied by their girlfriends. Ed tells me that he grew up watching the Ghostbusters animated TV show. "I had all the toys," he says. His girlfriend says the toys are still on the shelves of his apartment. His buddy Eugene pulls out his iPhone — the wallpaper is a picture of his girlfriend posing next to a guy in a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man costume.

The event's even brought out the self-proclaimed "Original Ghosthead," Peter Mosen. The title's pinned to his beige jumpsuit as a badge of honor, and he drove down in his Chevy Impala fashioned as the Ecto-1 from the film. A life-size model of Slimer sits in the backseat, and Mosen assures me that he has an inflatable Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the trunk "just in case." He promptly tells me the tale of his obsession with the series (he's writing an autobiography of his history with the films). It turns out he won tickets to the premiere back in 1984 and showed up at the event in a full Ghostbusters outfit before the film was even released. He made some connections at the showing, and ultimately started suiting up in costume to promote other films. He even scored a cameo in Ghostbusters II. In the meantime, he built a true replica of the Ecto-1, and he started doing Ghostbusters-themed shows. "I was all over the place doing kids' birthday parties. Everyone had to have me."

While we're chatting, Jody Sumner (part of a separate troupe of hardcore fans who are dressed up in full regalia for the exhibit), is peppering fans with Ghostbusters trivia questions. The prize? Halloween-sized Crunch Bars. The first one (Dana Barrett's apartment number) stumps the crowd (it's 2206), but soon the questions get easier. It turns out we're just a couple of blocks away from Hook & Ladder 8, where the supposed Ghostbusters are headquartered.

But everyone's here for the art, and soon enough the doors open. Inside is an impressive array of work from nearly 80 different artists — all of it commissioned solely for this traveling exhibit. Styles run the gambit from illustration and painting to pointillism, sculpture, and graphic design. The diversity of the pieces may have been enabled by the film itself. With such an array of imagery in the movie, it "lends towards doing almost any scene," says JoKa, a hyper-pointillist whose work is featured in the exhibit. Given so many choices, he says, "I wanted to do... not Bill Murray. I knew he was covered." He opted for a composition of Gozer and a Terror Dog.

Another artist at the opening, Scott Listfield, went an entirely different direction. His piece is, he says, "a futuristic take on Ghostbusters. It's the 30th anniversary, I wanted to do something very contemporary with it." His oil painting, featuring one of his iconic astronauts, takes place 30 years further into the future. "I kind of love the idea that they're still busting ghosts." Considering the show of support here so many years after the first film, perhaps it's not such a crazy idea. After all, if Sony gets its way, we’ll have a Ghostbusters III soon enough.

Gallery1988's Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary Art Show is in New York through April 26th. It will stop in Los Angeles from May 17th to June 1st, and Chicago from June 20th to the 22nd. The show will conclude in San Diego during Comic Con.

Photography by Dante D'Orazio. Lead image credit: DKNG, "Ecto-1."