Gumball Portrait of President Obama on Display at Ripley's Believe It or Not! Orland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 13, 2009 -- ORLANDO, Fla. – The unofficial portrait of President Obama that Ripley’s Believe It or Not! had commissioned has arrived at company headquarters in Orlando and will be on special exhibit at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum on International Drive for a limited showing, just in time for President’s Day.

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Gumball Portrait of President Obama on Display at Ripley's Believe It or Not! Orland

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Created by artist Franz Spohn, the portrait contains 12,784 gumballs. Using computer technology, Spohn uses the gumballs as pixels, or points of color. He creates the design on a computer and then makes a map showing where each color of gumball goes. The map is then followed and the appropriately colored gumballs are stacked into clear plastic tubes. The 90 tubes are then mounted next to each other to form the unique portrait.

Spohn recruited dozens of volunteers to help create the portrait as part of the Martin Luther King Day celebration on January 19 at the King Kennedy Center in Ravenna, Ohio. After one hour and many sticky fingers, a one-of-a-kind work of art was born.

Gumball Obama will join Spohn’s gumball murals of Robert Ripley, Dean Cain and Michael Jackson that currently hang in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums worldwide.

The Obama portrait will be on display, free of charge, in the lobby of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium in Orlando, 8201 International Drive. And will be available for viewing during regular business hours, 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., daily. The portrait will be on display through Sunday, Feb. 22.


*A high resolution digital image of the portrait is available upon request

For interviews or more information on the portrait, contact Tim O’Brien at Obrien@ripleys.com.


About Ripley Entertainment Inc.

Ripley Entertainment Inc. (www.ripleys.com), keepers of the venerable Ripley’s Believe It or Not! brand, is a global leader in location-based entertainment, entertaining more than 13 million annually at its 74 attractions in 13 countries. In addition to its 32 Believe It or Not! museums, the Orlando, Florida-based company has publishing, licensing and broadcast divisions that oversee projects including the syndicated Believe It or Not! television show, best-selling books and the popular syndicated cartoon strip, Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, that still runs daily in 42 countries. Ripley Entertainment is a Jim Pattison Company, the third-largest privately held company in Canada.

Contacts:

Joe Kasinski
Director of Sales & Marketing
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Orlando
407-345-0501
marketing@ripleysorlando.com

Tim O’Brien
VP Communications
Ripley Entertainment Inc.
Office – 615-646-7465
Cell – 615-496-5949
obrien@ripleys.com

More information can be found online at http://www.ripleysorlando.com

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