Brightmares with Alex Pardee

Image for post — Alex Pardee’s Land of Confusion

Our lives are filled with dualities, many of which we boil down and simplify to fit within a “negative” or “positive” box. Experiences which evoke emotions of confusion, pain, fear or general disturbance are bad and something to avoid. Yet these experiences are an undeniable and unavoidable part of the human experience. And most times the “bad” does not exist independently.

Alex Pardee’s happy nightmares, or Brightmares, bring attention to the complex interaction between the opposing forces in our lives — the good and the bad, the heartwarming and the horrific — by delivering scary subject matter in bright and playful, even cute, packages. Pardee’s creations often consist of gnarling monsters or creepy creatures that are injected with a dose of delight, usually containing a strong sense of humor and irony; vibrant, pleasant colors; and large, anime eyes. Despite the variation in his artwork, Pardee’s creations almost always evoke a (or multiple) emotional responses. The combination of creepy and cute present in Pardee’s artwork speaks to the multi-faceted nature of our existence.

These pop surrealist Brightmares are breaking art barriers, paving the way for underground comic and character development art to find their place within the traditional fine art world. Pardee and his Brightmares have taken the world by storm, gaining a huge international following and fandom.

It is now with great pleasure and excitement that we welcome Pardee and his creations to the world of rare digital art and blockchain.

Breaking Boundaries and Crossing Mediums with Brightmares

Alex Pardee was born and raised in Antioch, California and is now based in Los Angeles. As a youth (probably around the age of 10 in 1986, according to Pardee) he became extremely inspired by skateboard graphics, Garbage Pail Kids, Tales From the Crypt Comics and horror movies. These influences shaped his creation style from an early age, and continue to play a role in his artwork today.

It was about 10 years later, in 1996, when Pardee was first exposed to digital art:

I have been fascinated by digital art ever since I first experimented with Photoshop to try to color an independent comic book that I published back in 1996. However, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I started fully creating art from start to finish when I got an ipad pro and the Procreate app.

Today, Pardee estimates that about 60% of his work is created digitally. He credits this to the endless possibilities of digital art, as compared to traditional mediums, as well as the digital direction that the consumption of his art has gone. Yet it is important to note that physical creation still plays an important role in Pardee’s creation process.

So much artwork is being viewed in the digital space, it makes sense to create art for that space!

In the past few years Pardee has achieved what many artists dream of, with creative successes spanning across mediums and industries. His paintings have been widely praised by the fine art world and been exhibited and collected by galleries and institutions around the world. Pardee’s art can also be found on streets across the world, such as San Francisco’s historic Haight District and Hawaii, highlighting the versatility of Pardee’s work which seamlessly fits into the worlds of both high-brow fine art and spray-paint street art.

His artwork has crossed artistic mediums, influencing categories of both film and sound: Pardee is best known for his artwork on the platinum-award winning rock band The Used’s album covers, with band members describing the “heart noose” Pardee created as being synonymous with the band, comparable to the Misfit’s skull symbol. Pardee has also created album covers for Bay Area rapper TopR, and heavy metal band In Flames, amongst many others.

Pardee has also influenced the world of film and animation with his film design and character development work on Zack Snyder’s 2011 film SUCKER PUNCH and Pardee’s own animation series Chadam (in collaboration with Warner Bros). He’s also created apparel for Hurley International, Twenty Twenty Skateboards, Upper Playground, Street Drum Corps, and Kidrobot.

Pardee’s artwork has been praised by influential art publications such as Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose magazines and he’s had the honor of curating two entire issues of JUXTAPOZ Art Magazine. He currently owns and operates a lifestyle and art brand featuring his personal art, toys, books, and apparel.

“Alex Pardee has turned emotional escape into aggressive exploration, and he has done this through the use of biomorphic and anthropomorphic expression. The horse his mind rides is a hot rubber unicorn, but he’ll get back to the world before it melts.” — Robert Williams, Founder, Juxtapoz Magazine

Bringing Brightmares to Blockchain

Pardee’s latest artistic endeavor involves bringing his Brightmares to the emerging space of rare digital art, also known as crypto art. Throughout his creative career Alex Pardee has become known for blending boundaries that exist within artistic spaces, so joining the movement of artists who are publishing their digital artworks through blockchain seemed like a natural next step.

Pardee is fascinated by this new emerging digital art movement and extremely excited to see how the community receives his artwork. Despite being new to the space, Pardee already has a large number of fans, of digital artists and collectors alike, who are anxiously awaiting his Brightmares’ arrival on the blockchain (via MakersPlace).

For his cryptoart debut, Pardee has released four creations in his signature happy nightmare style. Each artwork tells a unique story of a different world only accessible through your dreams, yet all creations are tied together through Pardee’s iconic style. The story of each artwork is thoughtfully expressed through Pardee’s creative writing (another feature in his ever-expansive and surprising tool kit).

Alex Pardee spoke with our Community Manager, Aisha Arif, to discuss his creative background, inspiration behind Brightmares and thoughts on the emerging crypto art movement. Check it out below!