Bar-sh-alona

IM OFF TO SPAIN, BITCH!

Fingering San Jose

Continuing the 3-man-Voltron, Saber, Dave Choe and I hit up Workman's in the Eastridge Mall in San Jose as part of the Upper Playground / Sparks Ignite What's Next Tour. We only had an hour to paint and mall security was in full mounty gear and segways, but we pulled it off and had time to hang out with everyone who came by to say whattup. So thanks to everyone who helped out and came by and supported.
I wish i could be on the whole tour, but because so much shit and work is going on with me i couldnt make it, but hopefully i will be out there with them again soon.
Dave and Saber are killin it with guest artists like Retna and N8 Van Dyke. Go find them in your city.

Dave Choe bending over to vomit because he is pregnant.





THE FINISHED COLLAB.


VOLTRON



TIME LAPSE BY ZEROFRIENDS:

Painting The Krate

As part of the Upper Playground / Spark's "Ignite What's Next Tour", I joined forces with my good friends Dave Choe and Saber like a version of Voltron that is so bad ass that we dont need FIVE cat-robots to make a giant unstoppable force, we only need us 3. Unfortunately, i'm the messy one. The one that needs artistic supervison, and the one who is still scared to talk to a lot of people. But I was in good hands in Santa Cruz, murder capital of the world (according to The Lost Boys), thanks to Dave, Saber, and the crew in charge of The Krate.
Go check it out if you are ever there visiting the place where Keifer Sutherland uttered my favorite line in movie history, "Maggots, Michael. You are eating maggots."
Indeed.

My neck was feeling unusually unruly that day and decided to expand its mass as I began painting:




Saber and I becoming one with the mess:


One of my favorite pictures of Dave ever. Photo by Jon Dragonette:





My finished piece:


Dave Choe's finished addition:


SABER's insane city scape where i wish i lived:


I decided that the door at the neighboring toy store needed a no-armed-bunk-dark-crystal-knock-off-thing-with-a-riding-friend" since it seemed to be lacking one.


And the photo that sums up everything pretty well (photo by CW Mihlberger):

My captor, the Bug.

A few people actually get mad at me and think i'm joking when i tell them that I am not in control of what i draw or create. They think i just dont want to spend my time talking to them. A few years ago, they would be right, but now...its all good, i like to talk. Im not very good at it, but if i have something to talk to you about, i love it. Unfortunately, I can never talk about what I paint or draw because I simply have nothing to do with it. I'm serious. And here is why...
A few years ago, I was suffering from artist block, and i just sat in a tub of tears, sobbing as usual. And she came. A perfectly ladybug-sized ladybug landed on my wrist, and bit me.
But the bite didnt hurt me, or make me sick. It made me LOVE her, and obey her every command. Fortunately, she always had a passion to draw random, weird-shape-headed people and extra appendages, but due to her insect limitations, she never could. So she uses me. And uses, and uses, and i'm trying my hardest to get better, but i dont understand what im doing and her tastes are changing and if i fail to please her....I dont know what will happen.
So yah, none of this is my fault.
I promise.

Water Taco

I thought about photoshopping the stain to make it even bigger, but...its already pretty rad.

COVER YOUR FEET IN BONES

SNEAK PREVIEW OF SOME NEW SHOES I DESIGNED FOR UPPER PLAYGROUND / 5024SF.
Get on it.

STAND BY ME:

The Scorpion King

I've been addicted to Survivorman, which is a THOUSAND times better than that Bear hack from Man Vs. Wild, who got called out by his crew for being too dramatic and ridiculous.
I would try to write something witty and disrespectful about Man Vs Wild, but the guys over at Something Awful already did it HERE.

But for some reason, i can't help starving myself and hunting for grubs. It builds character.

Atlanta Skate Park Charity Auction

Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, T.I., Outkast, Young Jeezy, Bonecrusher, and Cee-lo are all getting together to have a huge art auction to build a skate park in Atlanta! Oh, wait, my mistake, no they aren't, it turns out that there are COOLER people in Atlanta that care more about skateboarding and kids than ANY of the hip hop giants.
Zak Cochran and the Kennesaw Crew have been raising funds to build a skatepark in Atlanta. There will be an auction for a ton of skate decks painted by a hojillion rad artists including David Carson, Faile, Tim Biskup, Shepard Fairey, Don Pendleton, Sam Flores, Guy Burwell, Sage Vaughn, Duncan Jago, Mike Giant, Johnny Mojo, Emek, BAST and more.
Here is my contribution to the auction.
Im not sure when and where it will be, but i'll let you know when i find out.
for more info, go HERE

THE ORIGINAL SKETCH:


In Progress:


El Finishio:

Mean Street Cover Illustration

I was asked to illustrate the guys from THE USED for the cover of MEAN STREET magazine, a free mag distributed all thoughout LA. It should be out now, so grab a couple if you see em. I guess this is the first time they have run an illustration on the cover, which is pretty dope. Unless this is their first issue, then that argument would be pointless.



AND THE ART WITHOUT THE TEXT:

Union Massacre

I did some live painting on stage as part of a UM art/music festival at the famous Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, CA. I was on stage alongside One in the Chamber, Steel Trap, Real Talk, Sorrow, Jeb, and the one and only Hugely-average TOP-R.
Zerofriends was in full effect and a ton of people came out to support the charity event. It was to raise money for Petaluma to build a legal art wall behind the Phoenix. Hopefully we'll get to do it again. And hopefully i wont paint something that takes me too long to finish and end up breaking the piece in half as a performance art. And i may or may not wear a scarf next time. It got mixed reactions....FROM GOD!





AND THE FULL FINISHED (BUT UNFINISHED AND DESTROYED) PIECE

The Mysterious Hispanic Collapse

Sure, living 3 blocks from the Latino ghetto has its disadvantages. No white man can grow a mustache for fear of being ridiculed by REAL hombres and their huge bushy nose trophies; we have to completely dismantle our own cars every night to show respect, and to save our ipods; and we have to adapt to a new way of talking when we ride bikes to the store with girls, a speech that involves mainly whistles and howls and sweat.
But it has its advantages, too, like the occasional stabbing victim that crawls into your backyard and collapses, prompting you to call 911 because a strange teenage man may have just died in front of your eyes. And for this...we celebrate!
A few nights ago, as we were all sitting around watching Darren pretend to get high score on Geometry Wars, we noticed some movement in our backyard.
Sure enough, along the outside of our back fence a young man was crawling slowly, and clutching his stomach, and he collapsed. There was no response when we asked him what was wrong. He got up again, struggled, clutched his stomach, and collapsed face first into the concrete. we couldnt see his chest or stomach, and thought maybe he was stabbed or shot (which wasnt without merit considering he could have easily escaped the clutches of the ghetto only a short 3 blocks away), so we called 911.
After 10 minutes of the cops arguing over whos going to turn him over, the paramedics showed up and got him to come to. No blood, no stabbing. Turns out he was a 16 year old kid with a full mustache who got fed a ton of tequila and pills, and after a few more minutes of the paramedics arguing over whos going to lift him up, he vomited in his sleep for what seemed to be years, creating an ant hill of puke, and prompting the cops to say things like "Look, he had menudo for lunch", or the famous "Looks like you wont be kissing no women tonight!" Clever.


6 hours later, at 8am, I awoke to the pile of vomit almost completely gone, and a flock of crows that looked like they had full stomachs and smiles on their black, beautiful beaks.

I moved!

No, i wasnt in a coma for months and finally showed some movement in my pinky.
I literally moved houses, like a hermit crab. Only my shell got smaller, but my location got better, my friends got closer, and my happiness got...happier?
And yes, i live only 3 blocks from a 1-mile square radius of illegal activity and one of the shadiest 7-11's in America, but still, the location is a hundred times better than next to a wal-mart with a constant smell of feces in the air, which is where i moved from. Not that im home all that much anyway, but these things matter.

THE CREEPY VIEW FROM THE BACK OF MY U-HAUL:


AND THE BEAUTIFUL VIEW FROM MY NEW BACKYARD:

Last Minute Edition Part 2

The Santa Cruz Event went great. We came, we saw, we pet a transvestite clown, we conquered (even though i stuck to my gus and mostly failed). Thanks to everyone at the Krate. I'll put pics up soon.
I will be doing one more live painting event with Saber and Dave Choe TODAY, SUNDAY SEPT 16th. @ 3pm in San Jose:
AT:
WORKMENS Apparel
In the Eastridge Mall
2200 Eastridge loop
San Jose, CA
Come hang, should be pretty chill.

SPARK'S "IGNITE WHATS NEXT TOUR"

Yah...last minute addition. Get on it!!!
Come say hi and watch 2 other people paint way better than me!!

THE BIGGEST THING IVE EVER BEEN A PART OF...

So, here is the article that was slated to run in the NY Times this morning. Instead, it got submitted for immediate release to all of the correct media outlets online, so to make sure you are informed, here is the official announcement of what I have been up to, and what is going to happen in the near future of the little character that could...CHADAM.

CHADAM, a CHARACTER THAT I CREATED AS BOTH AN ICON AND A "REPRESENTATION OF IMAGINATION" FOR A BAND CALLED "THE USED" WILL BE STARRING IN A 3-D ANIMATED, EPISODIC MOVIE THAT IS BEING FULLY DEVELOPED, WRITTEN BY, DESIGNED BY AND CO-DIRECTED BY ME, WITH THE HELP OF CO-WRITER ADAM PETERSON AND PRODUCER JACE HALL FOR WARNER BROS TELEVISION AND STUDIO 2.0!!!!

Here is a snippet of the official press release that JUST got sent out, with a little more info:

FOR RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 10, 2007


BURBANK, Calif. (September 10, 2007) – Studio 2.0, the original programming, digital production arm of the Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG), has begun production on 23 new short form series projects for broadband and wireless, with additional programming in active development. The new projects – from Jim Henson Productions, Telepictures Productions, Warner Bros. Animation and film & television director/producer McG, as well as fast-rising comedians Joey & David, videogame/film/television producer Jason Hall and cutting-edge artist Alex Pardee, among others – reflect WBTVG’s creative strategy for Studio 2.0, to showcase new artistic voices, provide creative opportunities for established talent in the broadband/wireless space and serve as an incubator for new television series.

“Chadam”: Cutting-edge artist Alex Pardee and producer Jason Hall of HDFILMS Inc. are teaming up on a 3D animation project based upon Pardee’s character of the same name. Initially introduced as a character icon for the popular rock band The Used, Chadam has become an Internet phenomenon. Chadam lives as the “chosen one” in the hyper-stylized and exaggerated metropolitan island city of Vulture. His power of imagination is strong enough to physically change his environment and, therefore, his world … to save it from evil. The series will find Chadam in a place of refuge, where he and others have retreated to plan their attack against the serial killer known as Viceroy. An action-horror-adventure story filled with self-discovery, “Chadam” will come to full 3D animated life via the magic of the Unreal Engine 3, the leading technology and development framework that powers cutting-edge games such as “Gears of War” and “BioShock” on today’s popular platforms, including PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The Internet series will serve as an incubator for future expansion of the “Chadam” universe, from additional online episodes to television, film, videogames and more. (Science Fiction)

So, yah, exciting, huh?
I know I AM. This is something that’s been tough to get rolling, but we got it.
If you are curious about some of the other projects that WARNER BROS, and STUDIO 2.0 are doing, you can read the entire press release by downloading it HERE.

I’ll follow this up in a few hours. Just wanted to share it with you first because ALL of the Chadam fans are basically what made this possible. And I cant thank you enough!