For today, Joe Manio was Indiana Jones — outfit, whip, hat and all. He checked out the several Han Solo pieces of work on display. With a smile on his face, he posed with other guests for pictures and engaged in small talk. Fans of all backgrounds crowded the art pieces, some were dressed in full cosplay, like Manio, while others came in fandom-themed shirts and accessories. But they all attended the free Disney art gallery to admire the recreations of their favorite fictional characters. Incredible Art Gallery set up the three-day gallery inside one of the Palace Hotel’s conference rooms that happened on Feb. 21 through 23.

“I am a full-time cosplayer,” said Manio, also known online as Fat Boy Cosplay. “I’m always building new cosplays, always coming up with new ideas, and I like to portray characters that I adored seeing on-screen, like Marty McFly, Han Solo, Indiana Jones, you name it.”

 From Harry Potter to DC Comics, guests found fine art pieces depicting Hagrid’s house to Darth Vader using the toilet for sale. The funky beat of the Bee Gees complimented how the children, parents and fans gather to dance around the room to view the different pieces of art. 

“I love supporting people who draw,” said David Haynes, an attendee cosplaying as Zenitsu, a character from the anime Demon Slayer. “I love anime and cartoons and stuff like that, I’ve been loving it since I was a little kid, so supporting people who draw . . . I would love to continue doing that.”

Dominic Glover was one of the four artists on display. According to Glover, the art show is run by the Incredible Art Gallery, which is a licensed art gallery from Colorado. Glover said the gallery holds licenses with Disney, Lucas Films, Marvel, DC, Funimation and Tower animation. This is the company’s second time coming to San Francisco to hold the Disney art show. Glover said artists working with the Incredible Art Gallery usually travel once a month together. Glover and Christopher Clark were present at the show to engage with guests. 

“I’m pretty excited to meet a bunch of fans, sign artwork and canvases,” Glover said. “[These shows] are keeping the fandom for all these different genres alive. Like Star Wars is big right now. It is also a good way for artists like myself to advertise projects that I’m working on.” 

A portrait of Han Solo with Chewbacca sat on the left side of the room. Christopher Clark, the artist of this painting, said that his style is traditional impressionism era oil paintings. He has experience with landscapes and figures. He started out painting Lord of the Rings landscapes as a fan and he felt like he didn’t have anywhere to show them.

“No fine art galleries typically wanna show pop culture stuff, so I sat on them for a couple of years,” Clark said. “Then I found the Incredible Art Gallery in downtown Denver . . . and they’re like ‘we love this stuff, this is what we sell.’ All they do is pop culture, so it was perfect.”

Young artists come to him a lot during these shows. According to Clark, he’s very encouraging to a lot of artists that approach him. Clark wants aspiring artists to remember that they can be an artist and they should do it.  

“I give out these cards . . .  to young artists . . . I basically boiled it down to those four things: study, promote, produce and persist . . . and if you do all four of those things then you will be successful,” Clark said. 

While the gallery is no longer in town, work form these artists are available for purchase online on the Incredible Art Gallery’s website.