See Your Favorite Horror Characters Come to Life in a Creepy New Way

Sometimes you conscionable gotta gully violence. Or, successful the lawsuit of Alex Pardee’s caller creation amusement “Return of the Doppelgangers,” convulsive characters from movie and TV. Pardee has one of the astir recognizable styles successful each of popular culture: big, bright, evocative, and often truly freaking creepy. For his latest show, he’s combining immoderate of his largest pieces ever and some of his smallest. The smaller pieces are “Dopplegangers,” Pardee’s interpretations of characters from the satellite of popular culture. He’ll person implicit 100 connected show starting Friday successful Los Angeles, and io9 is excited to exclusively debut a fewer of them and speech to the creator astir the show.

“Return of the Doppelgangers” runs from December 13 done January 4 successful Los Angeles, with each remaining pieces from the amusement going online December 19. Click present for hours and information and cheque retired a tiny sampling below.

Germain Lussier, io9: In your ain words, archer america astir this amusement and what makes it special.

Alex Pardee: I started making this circumstantial ongoing bid of paintings implicit a decennary ago. Not THESE peculiar paintings, but this “Doppelgangers” series. This task has been my therapy the full time. I ever conscionable spontaneously painted a movie monster oregon villain erstwhile I got inspired and wanted to conscionable marque thing for fun. I took the inspiration seriously, but I ne'er took the paintings seriously. They were, and are, for me. Over that decennary I’ve created implicit 300 of these paintings but to this time I haven’t ever had a dedicated assemblage amusement that features them. So I’m yet doing it. I got excited astir the conception of seeing a elephantine postulation of these Doppelganger paintings each chaotically surviving unneurotic truthful I went for it. And this amusement has implicit 100 brand-new paintings.

Also, by the way, this amusement is 2 extremes successful regards to sizes of my art. I’m simultaneously showcasing the largest canvases I’ve ever had successful a assemblage alongside the smallest paintings I’ve ever had. The size gambit runs from 10 feet gangly to six inches tall. But that’s besides the quality of monsters, right? Horror comes successful each sizes!

io9: When putting unneurotic a amusement of this size, however bash you prep? Do you person a database of characters and ideas? Do conscionable bash 1 and support going?

Pardee: I’ve ne'er done a amusement LIKE this! Usually my creation shows revolve astir an archetypal IP oregon a communicative that I make specifically for the show, and I make creation that is inspired by that narrative. I emotion storytelling. But for this show, I’m utilizing 100 different creators’ ideas arsenic inspiration.

I deliberation if I approached it arsenic making a large list, that whitethorn person been excessively daunting and I whitethorn person overthought that database constantly. So alternatively I made a clump of small lists. I would enactment connected similar 5 paintings astatine a time, sprung from either monsters that I’ve ever wanted to paint, oregon adjacent a fewer times, similar with The Substance, Smile 2, I walked retired of a movie theatre and said “Well, going location and adding that 1 TONIGHT!”

Pardee successful his workplace – Photo: Chloe Rice

io9: We emotion your creation due to the fact that it’s often truthful retired determination and gruesome. Do you person a enactment that you yourself won’t cross?

Pardee: I’m not personally offended by anything, oregon squeamish astir much, particularly creation and films and fictional works. But there’s decidedly fictional works that I americium not funny successful recreating oregon utilizing arsenic inspiration for my ain work. There’s immoderate incredibly well-made films, similar Irreversible oregon Requiem For a Dream, that I deliberation are truly good, but I’m not rushing location to marque instrumentality creation for them. I besides don’t thin to incorporated overmuch “sleaze” into my ain work, arsenic overmuch arsenic I grew up loving immoderate beauteous sleazy films.

io9: What are immoderate of your favourite pieces successful the amusement or, immoderate that you deliberation volition astonishment visitors?

Pardee: That’s tough! These Doppelganger paintings were each truly amusive to make. I don’t overthink them, I conscionable get inspired and overgarment thing silly. But speaking of The Substance, which is 1 of my favourite films of the year, I’m truly arrogant of that 1 due to the fact that I saw The Substance successful the theater, and I truly wanted to overgarment it, but determination were NO SPOILERS online for what Monstro Elisasue looked like, and I tried to spell from representation astatine first, but alternatively I went backmost to the theatre instantly to ticker it again and instrumentality intelligence notes. Then I conscionable painted it and I’m beauteous blessed with however it turned out! Also, 1 happening I’ve ever wanted to bash with these “Doppelgangers” is seeing what they would look similar IN homages to existent movie posters, truthful determination are a fewer paintings successful the amusement that are nods to immoderate of my favourite movie posters

io9: What makes an Alex Pardee instrumentality connected a popular civilization icon unsocial from idiosyncratic else’s?

Pardee: I’m not definite however different creators attack popular civilization creation but successful my case, I’m not excessively funny successful conscionable recreating the look of the characters perfectly, oregon adjacent remotely perfectly! Like with astir of my archetypal art, I adhd immoderate of my ain property into my popular civilization art, and I’m a silly person, truthful a batch of my pop-culture creation has a spot of silliness and I ne'er instrumentality the creation excessively seriously. If I deliberation it’s funnier to marque Michael Myers smile, I’m gonna marque him smile!

“Return of the Doppelgangers” runs done January 4 astatine Harman Projects, 2754 S. La Cienega Blvd, Unit B, successful Los Angeles CA. Click present for much info.

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