Exclusive: Tom Whalen And Kevin Tong Go Educational With 'InfoRama' Posters

Who doesn't love a good infographic? The ability to absorb knowledge, and look at something cool, fit together beautifully. Normally though, when we post stuff like that, it has to do with superhero movies or continuity errors. A new exhibit has almost no links to pop culture, but it's by two of our favorite artists so we hope you'll be as interested we are.

The exhibit is called InfoRama and features brand new screen printed infographics by Tom Whalen and Kevin Tong. Both artists are well-known for their work at Mondo, Gallery 1988 and more but this show is at the Phone Booth Gallery in Long Beach, CA. It'll feature 13 brand new pieces based on a variety of technological, scientific and naturalistic topics. Below, we've got more info on how the show came to be, some hints of what to expect, and four pieces, including two exclusives, from Whalen and Tong.

InfoRama is an exhibition of screen-printed infographics by Tom Whalen and Kevin Tong. It opens Saturday August 23rd from 7-10 p.m.,at Phone Booth Gallery, 2533 East Broadway, Long Beach, CA. It remains on view through September 17th and online at www.phoneboothgallery.com.

First up, here are the two pieces in the show that were previously revealed. Click on each to see them bigger, but it's a Tesla piece by Tong and Octopus piece by Whalen.

Next up, here are our exclusive reveals. Here's a piece on LeafCutter Ants by Kevin Tong and one on the P-51D Mustang World War II fighter by Tom Whalen, which comes on both paper and metal.

This is awesome, right? These are sure to give you a much better understanding of The Prestige, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Red Tails and A Bugs Life! 

Seriously though, both Whalen and Tong were excited to tackle posters that didn't have to do with pop culture. "The idea was to do something different from what we normally did and what people were expecting from us," Tong said on behalf of the pair. "Tom and I both pump stuff out for Mondo, so there's always a movie poster both happening and about to happen at the same time. There wasn't really any motivation to draw anything else in that realm, we both sort of had our cups full already."

Tong first pitched the idea to the Phone Booth Gallery, where he hosted a solo show in 2013. Having done infographics for the Apollo 11 and Breaking Bad (check it out here), he started warming to the idea and brought Whalen into the fray. Then it became a "free for all" to pick topics, of which each artists has 6 in the show plus one collaborative piece. "The real challenge was to not get TOO into it and pack every square inch with facts or make the subject matter too obscure," Tong said. "This show was an intense amount of work, but seriously the most fun I've had in a long time."

So besides the four pieces above, what else can they tease about the show?

"On man. We've done so much stuff for this show," Tong said. "We have a fun pencil case, COMPLETELY customized, that hasn't been revealed yet. One of my posters was fact checked by NASA, which was awesome. We're really hoping people have fun looking at our newest work and learn a few cool facts. I sure know more than I thought I would ever know about Nikola Tesla, Leafcutter Ants, 1920's airships, dinosaurs, the human body, and more!"

Again, InfoRama is an exhibition of screen-printed infographics by Tom Whalen and Kevin Tong. It opens Saturday August 23rd from 7-10 p.m.,at Phone Booth Gallery, 2533 East Broadway, Long Beach, CA and remains on view through September 17th and online at www.phoneboothgallery.com.