ALEX PARDEE x SPOKE ART

ALEX IN SHUNDERLAND

As a pop-surrealist artist, freelance illustrator, toy designer and transmedia pioneer, ALEX PARDEE creates brightly colored nightmares, or as he calls them, Brightmares. His neon-colored work—often blending cute with horrific—is iconic, and has been featured multiple times in both JUXTAPOZ and HI-FRUCTOSE magazines. In addition to his personal paintings, digital crypto art, storytelling and character developments, Alex has helped design film projects like Zack Snyder’s "Sucker Punch". His illustrations have graced album covers (The Used, Aesop Rock) and video games (The End Is Nigh, The Binding Of Isaac), while his solo art gallery shows have been adapted into horror films (Digging Up The Marrow) and fantasy television projects (Chadam).

SPOKE ART GALLERY is a brick and mortar contemporary art space in San Francisco specializing in illustration, street art, pop culture, and fine art. Their very first exhibition ever was a pop up show in Oakland in 2010, that show featured a prominent local artist named ALEX PARDEE. More than ten years later they are excited to reconnect with Pardee again for SHUNDERLAND, an exhibition taking place this week simultaneously as a pop up show in Santa Monica, CA and also online on MakersPlace. Learn More

THE DROP

“I don’t remember much of my life before I was diagnosed with clinical depression and panic disorder at age 14, but I do remember how I’ve dealt with my life ever since.

SHUNDERLAND is an entire world of characters, stories and “Brightmares” that I created when I was in high school so I had somewhere to mentally run away to when I needed to escape. My reasons for needing to escape varied. Sometimes it was the depression. Sometimes it was the fear. Sometimes I was angry. Sometimes I just wanted to make myself laugh. A lot of times (especially these days), it was confusion. Shunderland is my own Minecraft, my own Westeros, my own Springfield, my own CHEERS, with my own multiple Woody Harrelsons, in my own galaxy far, far away.

I’ve escaped to Shunderland on a daily basis for over 30 years, and for the first time, in conjunction with SPOKE ART GALLERY, we wanted to share with you some of its oldest inhabitants and friends who I have literally MADE along the way.

Each painting in this collection is inspired by my own art from the past. They are each based on an old sketch, scribble and story that I created decades ago, during some of my early trips into SHUNDERLAND.”