Corey Helford Gallery presents new works by

ALEX PARDEE
“Vertigo”

A Decade of Hunting Nightmares

Opening Reception Saturday, January 8, 2011 from 7-10pm
On View January 8 - January 26, 2011

Corey Helford Gallery is proud to open 2011 with “Vertigo: A Decade of Hunting Nightmares”, by California artist Alex Pardee.

Coming off his work on the 2011 feature film release, “Sucker Punch”, where Pardee partnered with film-maker Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. Entertainment to create original artwork for the film as well as art direction for the marketing campaign, Pardee has created “Vertigo”, his most ambitious art exhibition to date. In his first solo at Corey Helford Gallery, the artist unveils the art of capturing nightmares with a collection of thirteen acrylic-on-cradled wood panel paintings, which are physical representations of darkly intense dream-state visions in the unique Pardee style. Each painting is accompanied by a framed document chronicling the nightmare’s history, as related by world-famous nightmare hunter, Verti Parker, who inspired Pardee to create the exhibition. Also on display throughout the gallery will be a series of artifacts and evidence from the famous nightmare hunter’s archive, including the actual music box he used to exorcise nightmares from patients, as well as an eight-foot taxidermy monster from Verti’s very first nightmare hunt.

For an exhibition as unusual as this, embracing the exploration of the feelings of anxiety and terror experienced during a nightmare, Pardee approached his creative process in a new manner: first, conceptualizing his subject, outlining its story (which you can read here) and then preparing detailed black–and-white line art drawings followed with multiple washes of color. Pardee challenged himself, learning new perspectives and techniques, as well as employing acrylics as his chosen medium for the first time. His wood panels are personally handmade and custom framed to enhance his subjects’ darker qualities.

The weeks leading up to opening night, Verti Parker’s website www.vertiparker.com will unfold with new developments in the adventure of hunting nightmares. The reception for “Vertigo” is open to the public and will take place on Saturday, January 8 from 7 to 10pm. The show will be on view until January 26, 2011.

The Building

The Father

The Gremlins

About Alex Pardee
Born in 1976, Alex Pardee is an American artist, writer and apparel designer from California. A pioneer in trans-media artistry, Pardee brings his unique style and aesthetic to many platforms, including numerous director credits for music, animation, and film projects. He has collaborated with bands The Used, In Flames and hip-hop artist Cage, and on TV and film projects, including Chadam to art direct marketing campaigns.
Pardee is also the co-founder of successful creative collective ZEROFRIENDS, which through a series of national pop-up stores provides him and other notable artists a marketable retail extension of their artwork and storytelling. Pardee has exhibited in galleries worldwide and currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.
For more information about the artist, please visit www.eyesuckink.com.

About Corey Helford Gallery
Located in the Culver City Art District, Corey Helford Gallery was established in April 2006 by Jan Corey Helford and her husband, television producer and creator, Bruce Helford (The Drew Carey Show, George Lopez, The Oblongs). Passionate art collectors, the Helfords are producers on the art documentary The Treasures of Long Gone John and have partnered to open their first gallery. Corey Helford Gallery presents a wide range of artists, from members of the new fine art movement, such as Ron English, Josh Agle (SHAG), Buff Monster, COOP, Natalia Fabia, Korin Faught, Sylvia Ji, Eric Joyner, Chloe Early, Ray Caesar, and award-winning photographer Chris Anthony, to early Modernist William S. Schwartz. Renowned for its notable exhibitions, the gallery has presented “Charity By Numbers”, which was co-curated by Gary Baseman and featured an unprecedented lineup of artists including Mark Ryden, Marion Peck, Shepard Fairey, Todd and Kathy Schorr, Camille Rose Garcia, and Michael Hussar, as well as “La Noche de la Fusion”, an epic Carnivalesque festival and solo exhibition for Pervasive artist Gary Baseman. In 2010, Corey Helford Gallery partnered with Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery for the transatlantic collaboration “Art From The New World”, a world-class United Kingdom museum exhibition showcasing work by a formidable group of 49 of the finest emerging and noted American artists. Corey Helford Gallery presents new exhibitions approximately every four weeks. For more information and an upcoming exhibition schedule, please visit coreyhelfordgallery.com.

Corey Helford Gallery
8522 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232
T: 310-287-2340
www.coreyhelfordgallery.com
Open Tuesday - Saturday, Noon to 6:00pm

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