Friday, January 28, 2011

EXCLUSIVE LIMITED STAR WARS PRINT!!!! ON SALE NOW!

INTERGALACTIC ANNOUNCEMENT!

Right this second MYSELF, LUCASFILMS, ACME & STARWARS.COM JUST UNLEASHED A SITH-MONSTER!




I am pleased to announce the above image is now in Jedi-like Limited Print form direct from the official STAR WARS SHOP! This has been a long time in the making and I couldn't be happier with the result. I'll leave it at that. Star Wars has been my life since I was 4 and my parents made me a cake decorated in StarWars action figures with the frosting reading "May the FOURS Be with you". And the very first thing I bought with weeks of saved allowance was a Rancor from Mervyns. Damn, I love Star Wars.

So CLICK HERE OR ANY OF THE PHOTOS TO VIEW AND PURCHASE THIS PRINT! It's limited to 100:)

Thank you, wonderful Star Wars people!

Here are a couple of detail shots:








The final piece was a mixture of pen and ink, watercolor washes and digital painting. But here is my original loose digital concept for the piece:



i mean, thats after THIS one didn't get approved:



Word!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

FREE LIVE MUSIC! AESOP ROCK! KIMYA DAWSON! ROB SONIC! Only at ZEROFRIENDS!

THIS IS THE BIGGEST THING TO COME TO A RETAIL STORE SINCE THE FUCKING FURBY!!!



As you know, we at Zerofriends have been wrangling a little experimental circus all throughout 2010, setting up temporary retail locations in a few different cities in order to introduce our brand to different communities and mingle with the local artists and basically just dance like maniacs and display and sell some artwork. Well, we went from NY to SF then to LA and we are finally taking a break for a minute (and probably ONLY a minute because we hate breaks) and the LA retail store is coming to a close this Sunday, Jan 30, 2011, marking an end to a year of complete amazingness and madness. Thank you everyone for the support, and thank you to all of our friends who helped us along the journey. We are gonna pop-up again soon in another city, but that will be figured out in the near future. Where do you guys want to see us go?? Let me know. Anyway, to celebrate our fun little ride, my good friends are doing one of the most amazing things ever, not only for US, but for YOU. It humbles me to be able to announce something so surreal and to be a part of this odd mix of fantasy and folktales. So pay close attention, and if you love getting your imagination punched in the throat and your ears made smooth love to, then you don't want to miss this FREE celebration of music (and a little magic) with 2 of the best hip-hop artists in the game and easily the best singer-songwriter in all of Eternia joining forces to battle with hugs and screams and loves. Here is all of the info, I hope to see you there. But PLEASE NOTE: SPACE IS EXTREMELY LIMITED, PROBABLY ONLY CAN FIT ABOUT 100 PEOPLE, SO GETTING IN IS NOT GUARANTEED, BUT WE WILL TRY EVERYTHING WE CAN TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE CAN SEE/HEAR THE SHOW!

Check it:

Zerofriends & 900 Bats Present:

KIMYA DAWSON (of the Moldy Peaches), AESOP ROCK & ROB SONIC

PERFORMING LIVE!!!

All 3 artists performing solo as well as together for some beautiful uncanny mixtures of musical-stew. Seriously, wait until you see the chemistry between these 3 amigos. its beautiful.

Saturday, Jan 29th

4 PM-?

FREE ADMISSION
(But NOT Guaranteed Entry, see above)

AT ZEROFRIENDS LA / CELLA GALLERY

11135 Weddington Dr #112

North Hollywood, CA


And I'll be joining the fun as well so feel free to say hi to all of us!!!



And check out some of my favorites from these 3 amazing angels of whimsical spaghetti!

KIMYA DAWSON: "LULLABY FOR THE TAKEN"






AESOP ROCK Performs "NONE SHALL PASS" Live at the Zerofriends SF store on Halloween





ROB SONIC: "ROCK THE CONVOY"





Thanks again everyone. We think you are…..

Friday, January 21, 2011

Watch "BEST WORST MOVIE" with Me & the Director!!!! SATURDAY! LA!

SO, AS OUR FINAL ESCAPADE ALONG THE AMAZING "MOVIE KNIGHTS" ADVENTURE, THIS IS HAPPENING!



Yes, it is. Alongside its director and star, Michael Paul Stephenson, I am hosting a screening of "BEST WORST MOVIE" at the Zerofriends LA Store as the send-off to 5 months of incredible "MOVIE KNIGHTS" Gatherings. We have been lucky enough to have guests, artists & writers like David Hayter, Skinner, Robert Bowen, Jon Schnepp, Tara McPherson, Dave Correia, Steven Daily, Chet Zar, Stephen Reedy and more.
And now could the planets quite possibly have lined up at a better time than this? Well, now that Pluto is gone, DEFINITELY not, but I'll take what i can get! When I first laid my eyes upon "Best Worst Movie" while on the Sketch 4 Sketch tour, at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, sitting alongside the Zerofriends dudes, Skinner, and Justin, I had no idea what to expect. Within 5 minutes, I was literally in love with an intangible product.

"Best Worst Movie" is a documentary chronicling the lives of everyone involved in the making of "TROLL 2", a late 80's direct to video movie that has been deemed "THE WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME" by numerous sources. And as you will see, the magic that unknowingly forged from each individual involved in its creation could NOT have happened with even a slightly different team. This film is what any story-driven documentary should use as a template for realizing that story. Not since King Of Kong have I cheered and shuttered and rooted this much during a documentary. And it is my pleasure to be able to watch it and present it to you for FREE alongside the film's director himself (AND star of TROLL 2!) Michael Paul Stephenson. So come out, hang out, say hi, eat some pizza, watch a rad movie, and maybe we will even answer some questions and give out some prizes or something if you want:)

Here is all of the info. Space is limited so keep that in mind:)

ZEROFRIENDS LA & CELLA GALLERY Present:
MOVIE KNIGHTS
Featuring "BEST WORST MOVIE"
Saturday, Jan 22
7 PM (probably till around 11PM)
FREE ADMISSION
11135 Weddington St #112
North Hollywood, CA

See you there! Check out the trailer for the film here!




Michael Stephenson & I joining Troll-ific forces!



Monday, January 17, 2011

VERTIGO PRESS & PHOTO RECAP #1: CRAZY PEOPLE!

My "VERTIGO" show was CRAZY. PERIOD.

The amount of support and appreciation from everyone around me, including all of you, during the entire creation and multiple openings of my "VERTIGO" Art show at Corey Helford Gallery has made me feel like Justin Bieber so THANK YOU ALL! I even got that little focker's haircut!







Anyway, over the next couple of days, I am going to showcase some really dope collections of photos from the whole event, including the opening, the art itself, the preparation, some portraits, and some randomness, with the first collection being included here below:)

If you missed the show, hopefully these photos will give you a little glimpse into the experience that we all got to share and the insanity that ensued.

But before I unleash the Kraken of photos, here are some noteworthy links about the "Vertigo" show itself:

TO VIEW OR PURCHASE ALL OF THE AVAILABLE ORIGINAL ART FROM THE GALLERY, CLICK HERE.

TO READ EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SHOW IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE WHOLE CONCEPT, CLICK HERE


And some amazing press articles and interviews covered the event as well, which is VERY surreal, as I am still doing press as of even yesterday! So thanks for all of the coverage it's much appreciated.

WALL STREET JOURNAL COVERAGE HERE

IN DEPTH EXCLUSIVE JUXTAPOZ INTERVIEW HERE

WIRED MAGAZINE ARTICLE HERE

AWESOME SCI-FI CULTURE BLOG io9 COVERAGE HERE

A PROFILE OF MY WORK LEADING UP TO VERTIGO ON HORROR SITE BLOODY DISGUSTING.

A STUDIO VISIT FROM HI-FRUCTOSE MAGAZINE DURING THE MAKING OF VERTIGO

LASTLY, A STEP BY STEP PROCESS ARTICLE OF ONE OF MY "VERTIGO" PAINTINGS AT DAILY DUJOUR




And now, i present to you the madness of the opening, and just a handful of some of the amazing 3F's (friends, family & fans) that came out to support. It was pretty exhilarating. Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow!:) Beware, when I get excited, I put my arm around people. which means most of these pictures look the same. But fuckit, side hugs WIN!

NOTE: I collected a lot of photos from a few different friends and online sources so thanks everyone for taking photos. They are kinda mashed up, but photos are all by Sam Graham, Clay Enos, Maggie West, Paul Bustamante, Bobby Hundreds, and myself.



Almost the whole Zerofriends Crew shortly before the opening. These dudes are the reason the show looked the way it did. These dudes are geniuses. And so is the girl!

From Left to right, Sean Cruise,  Paul Bustamante, Dave Correia, Marrissa D, and Alejandro Pardeejandro



My beautifully magical friend & date Leah & I. (Secret note: Leah is ridiculously clever and she is the one who came up with the name "Molar Bear". Everything else about that monster, like unfreezing it from Finland and it being extracted from from the child is all true, but the name we embellished a little, thanks to Miss Leah:)



"300" & "WATCHMEN" Director ZACK SNYDER, who I recently collaborated with on some art for his upcoming "SUCKER PUNCH" Movie, brought his whole family out to support, as did a LOT of the creative team behind Sucker Punch, which was awesome.





And then I thought that ONE side-hug is NEVER enough, so I made sure that friend, art-guy and all around funnyman SETH GREEN got to feel the wrath of my side-hug. First time meeting Seth, and that dude is solid! Fun. Wait, is that DOUG-KLOPS PHOTOBOMBING!?





SUCKER PUNCHIES DJ DesJardin (Visual effects), Producer Wesley Coller & Production Queen Celeste!





Greg "Craola" Simkins & his beautiful family. The molar bear actually shook up one of the smallest humans in this photo. I felt a little guilty, but then I thought, hey, Greg's an adult, he shouldn't be scared!;)





Director James Gunn (Slither, SUPER), Mia Matsumiya, & Shannon & Matt from CELLA GALLERY, complete with a nice rape-faced-Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2 / Knights Of Badassdom Director) photo bomb!





Pop-culture Pt Barnum & 1988 Owner Jensen Karp & I, huggin sides





Artist and all around wizard Mike Mitchell and his beautiful beard!





I challenged artist Ken Garduno to an "Awkward Stare-Off" I totally defeated that dude with a bloody Awkwardtality.





Oh, hai, DAVE CHOE, wanna share some spaghetti??





Sure, man, but I hope no one is watching us Lady & the Tramp this shit.



Omar Doom (Nazi Killing Inglourious Basterd) wants noodles too, and I am obviously disappointing him.





The galactically mystical exquisite Team Unicorn (Geek n Gamer Girls) Milynn Sarley, Rileah Vanderbilt, and Clare Grant.





SO MANY genre directors and creative geniuses showed up to support, including HATCHET & FROZEN Director ADAM GREEN (shown here). and also Michael Dougherty (Trick R Treat) was there too! So nuts. Annnddddddd…..





Fuckin MICHAEL PAUL STEPHENSON, director of my favorite documentary of 2010, BEST WORST MOVIE, which (spoiler alert: Michael & I are showing it THIS SATURDAY AT THE ZEROFRIENDS LA STORE! But shhh, more info soon:)





JAY 222, an amazing sculptor who worked with me on creating the look of the Molar Bear! He sculpted the snout and hands and spearheaded the painting of it.





The insane homie Ekundayo was on-hand, hopefully telling everyone that Zerofriends is gonna release a new series of limited prints of his art VERY SOON!





Linkin Park's Joe Hahn was actually the ONLY person who was REALLY EXCITED that my arm was around him.





I wish painter Jeff McMillan wasn't so awesome looking.





Buff Monster and I ALWAYS look blurry together, which is unfortunate for the gorgeous Stephanie Escobar.





After I spent a night forcing photographer Maggie West to take 8th grade laser pics of me, she was nice enough to come back the next day:)





Wade Beckett from G4 & Journalist Trina Calderon let me be one of the pieces of bread in the human sandwich.





Portrait photographer Clay Enos (Watchmen Portraits) continues to be the greatest human ever in the galaxy.





ZEROFRIENDS!!!!!!!

Stay tuned for more pics tomorrow!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Second VERTIGO opening + SIGNING & MEET'n'GREET SATURDAY!



Portrait by TRINA CALDERON



Attention everyone who is awesome:

1. I am still GLOWING from the response and the support of my "VERTIGO" show that opened last week at the Corey Helford Gallery. Seriously. I can't thank each one of you who showed up, or helped spread the word online, read the "Verti Parker" story, or just smiled at the giant walking Building-Monster painting. You all collectively made this show the best show I have ever done. So THANK YOU.

2. I have collected and edited a TON of pics, and will upload a whole summary probably Monday. It was INCREDIBLE the amount of supportive friends and fans came out to say hi to The Molar Bear (above) and I. More soon.

3. Sorry if your Zodiac sign changed today. Stop crying though, because now you might actually be compatible with the person that you wrote off for no reason other than because the stars kind of told you. Yay! Call them up!

4. The line to get in wrapped around the block ALL night. Unfortunately, there is a city-wide curfew at 10PM in Culver City and so exactly at 10PM, the cops closed the door, meaning that over 200 of you did not get into the show or get to say hello. Which sucked, and I apologize for that.

5. To make it up (hopefully it is not an inconvenience to you), I am trekking RIGHT back down to LA this weekend for a small SECOND opening and Meet'nGreet/Signing at the Corey Helford Gallery. Here is the info, I am sorry to make you come out twice, but this will be a fun little event, as we were not doing any signing/sketching at the last opening, so this one is SPECIAL.

6. ALSO, I am bringing a ton of ZEROFRIENDS merch and we will be setting up a little section of the gallery to buy shirts, prints and other stuff so thats even MORE special. Double win from a double chin.

INFO:

SATURDAY, JAN 15th

1PM - 3PM

ALEX PARDEE SIGNING / MEET n GREET

In Celebration of "VERTIGO"

AT

Corey Helford Gallery

8522 Washington Boulevard

Culver City, CA 90232

T: 310-287-2340

www.coreyhelfordgallery.com


SEE YOU THERE!!!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Watch X-MEN with the WRITER OF X-MEN! FREE!! AT ZEROFRIENDS!

DANG! If you like movies and don't know how huge of an opportunity that this is....
David Hayter is a MONSTER, writing 2 of my favorite films (Watchmen and X-men) and is THE STARRING VOICE OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE VIDEO GAME FRANCHISES, SOLID FUCKING SNAKE!!! Seriously, really? How did we pull this off??? We can only thank the CELLA GALLERY & DAVID HAYTER HIMSELF for treating us so nicely.
TOMORROW NIGHT! WEDS, JAN 12, FREE!!!! At the ZEROFRIENDS LA STORE.
DAMN!


Friday, January 7, 2011

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MY VERTIGO SHOW!!!



After 3 months of prep and 500 gallons of blood, sweat and mostly tears, it's finally(Verti)GO TIME!

My brand new solo art exhibition, "VERTIGO: A Decade of Hunting Nightmares" opens at Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, CA, tomorrow night, Saturday Jan 8th at 7PM-10PM! CLICK HERE to go to Corey Helford's website for all of the gallery info.

Though the details below contain everything you need to know about the show (minus some magical moments that will be revealed at the show on Saturday), they are far from short, but are definitely sweet. Let's start this madness in my favorite activated Wonder Twin power form: SIMPLE QUESTION AND LIST FORM!

1. Q: How much new art will there be?

A: 13 brand new acrylic on wood paintings, plus some crazy installation piece to go along with the "story" of the art show.

2. Q: What do you mean, "story"?

A: I created an in-depth story about a famous game hunter-turned-exorcist that would act as inspiration for all of the visual elements of the art show. If you wanted to know more about the story and about Verti Parker, the game hunter who is the inspiration for the show, you can CLICK HERE to go read Verti's entire origin story that leads into the art show on a website specifically created to share Verti's story, or you can jump down to the bottom of this post and read the way-shorter all new summary of the epic tale!!!

3. Q: Will I get anything for FREE just for showing up?

A: Funny you should ask, because YES! The first 500 people to come to the opening will receive a FREE print of the above image on the flyer! For reals. For free! It is Corey Helford Gallery & my way of saying thank you for helping support my biggest and best show yet. And oh yah, FREE TACOS MADE OUT OF GENUINE MONSTER MEAT COLLECTED FROM VERTI'S HUNTS!

And as an EXTRA bonus, my good friend, director of Hatchet & Frozen, Adam Green, is going to bring a few autographed Hatchet 2 theatrical posters and giving them out to the first 5 people to show up to the show in a Hatchet Army shirt!

4. Q: Why is this show such a big deal to you?

A: Well, all of my shows are big deals to me, but this represents a number of landmarks. Showing at a fine art gallery as prestigious as Corey Helford is something I have never had a chance to do before. Also, for the first time ever, I have painted using acrylics, which is a huge new direction for me. Most of my previous work has been watercolors & inks. And I built all of the wood panels that I painted on by hand, which makes them full of love. There will also be actual artifacts on display from Verti himself, as well as a surprise little monster that may have been unfrozen and shipped over to the show at the last minute. Lastly, Verti's "story" and the whole universe surrounding him and the nightmares is my favorite story I have created to date and I want to share it with everyone in the world.

Also, if you search around the internet a bit, there are a few of the paintings that have already been revealed on various blogs and sites. I have included a couple below, but check out some of these awesome sites for some great articles & exclusive interviews:



THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FOR THE SHOW FROM COREY HELFORD GALLERY




JUXTAPOZ MAGAZINE'S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ME



AWESOME SCI-FI CULTURE BLOG io9 SHOWS SOME EXCLUSIVE IMAGES FROM THE SHOW



HI FRUCTOSE MAGAZINE TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE WHOLE PROCESS OF PAINTING ONE OF THE PIECES FOR THE SHOW



Finally, check out some of the preview images below, but FIRST check out this amazing video teaser shot by the one and only director STEPHEN REEDY & Cinematographer CHRIS SAUL showing a little glimpse into Verti's nightmare hunting world!

Hope to see you all at the opening, wish me luck!

word.














Short Summary of Verti Parker's origin and how I came up with the inspiration for the show:

While in a small fishing village in Finland in 1985, world famous game hunter Caleb “Verti” Parker stumbled upon a strange occurrence that led him to believe that a special composition of music, when played at the correct pitch and speed, could lure nightmares out of the minds of the people who suffered from them and materialize these nightmares into the physical world.



As Verti had grown bored from years of hunting every game animal known to man, the sheer possibility of monsters manifesting into reality from peoples’ nightmares excited him. He realized he could hunt these creatures and have entirely new adventures while also helping to rid these nightmares from from the minds of the victims who had been suffering from them. Verti began feverishly researching and testing his theory.



Over the course of many years, he obsessed over sound and created several odd musical instruments which he would test on volunteers who had been experiencing vivid nightmares on a regular basis. Most of his instruments failed, however his most ambitious creation, a specially crafted music box, succeeded beyond his expectations. Verti’s theory had been proven correct. As he would turn the crank continuously on the box, a melodically eerie sound pattern would emerge from its speaker and float through the air surrounding Verti’s dreaming patient. The frequency of the sound reaching the patient’s ears would conjure the nightmare out of thier mind and force it to materialize in front of Verti. From this moment forward, the fight was on...



Verti continued to travel the world with his music box and a small team of associates, exorcising nightmares from those stricken so badly by the visions that their lives had been destroyed. Over the course of ten years, Verti had encountered a wide variety of monstrous creatures, each one offering a new challenge more invigorating than the last.



Because of the nature and secrecy of his work, little official documentation had existed about Verti’s adventures and the nightmares he exterminated until Verti crossed paths with Horace Chalem, a self-proclaimed “historian of the extraordinary.” Horace and Verti became close friends, and Horace, realizing immediately how “extraordinary” Verti’s experiences had been, wrote a 500 page biography documenting Verti’s entire life leading up to his unannounced retirement in 2009, when Verti simply packed up his life and relocated without so much as a simple note saying where he had gone. Horace passed away that same year, before he got a chance to publish Verti’s biography. When Horace’s house was cleaned out, Verti’s biography, along with hundreds of other extraordinary historical tales, was sent to Mexico City to be catalogued in “el Archivo de Obras Inéditas” (the Archive of Unpublished Works), where they were to be filed away and likely lost forever. But in June 2010, artist Alex Pardee was visiting Mexico and stumbled upon the Archive, where he ended up spending the entire duration of his trip discovering its numerous strange articles and absorbing as much inspiration as he could from diaries, songs, and other misfit documents that had been long since forgotten. It was there that Alex read Horace Chalem’s entire biography of Caleb “Verti” Parker. And it was there that Alex fell in love with Verti Parker’s mysterious world of nightmares and made the decision to dedicate the next six months of his life to translating some of Verti’s most horrific “nightmare extractions” onto canvas to share with the world in hopes that Verti’s discovery and his adventures would find a new life amongst a new audience of people eager to be inspired by the extraordinary.



Corey Helford Gallery & Alex Pardee are proud to present:

“VERTIGO”: A Decade of Hunting Nightmares