Artist of the Week: Parskid

Seattle's Parskid combines fantasy and street art to create his own world filled with vibrant colors and unusual creatures. I've been a fan of his for a while, and when I saw he had two shows opening in the first week of May I thought it would be a great time to interrupt his work flow and bug him with a few questions. He was kind enough to answer them dispute being extremely busy with his solo show opening tomorrow (May 6th) at Seattle's Flatcolor Gallery and the show that opened here in Chicago at Revolution Tattoo.

Orange Alert (OA): You have a solo show opening at Flatcolor Gallery on May 6th, what can you tell us about "Isolated Frontier"?
Parskid: Isolated Frontier represents me as an artist embarking on a personal journey in the world I've created as Parskid. I've always appreciated work that is done by those who shut themselves off from the rest of the world and create work that is very much their own. In a world where individuality can be scarce at times, I'm striving to create work that is honest and stands on its own, while trying not to concern myself with outside influences or ideas of what is expected of me. The world I've created is a reflection of my life and I'm comfortable walking in it alone.

OA: You also have a show that just opened here in Chicago at Revolution Tattoo Gallery. It seems like a very different setting for your work. How did you get involved in that show?
Parskid: I was asked to be in the show at Revolution Tattoo & Gallery by Matthew Ryan Sharp. We've been doing a few shows together recently. I like the crowd of people who frequent tattoo shops and they seem to like my work as well so it seemed like a good fit.

OA: Do you send different types of work to different galleries?
Parskid:Definitely I consider what the audience will be and what work of mine would be best fit that audience or how it will look in that specific space.

OA: I love the images in your Snake Filled Heart series. Is there any particular inspiration for the series? I love the shade of purple in several of the pieces.
Parskid:That series is a collection of paintings that spanned quite a few shows and a longer period of time. There was no specific thought behind the work as a whole but it was definitely a time when I was experimenting with new ideas and techniques. I started using purple for the first time in that series and now I can't get enough of it.

OA: The Pewter Pendants you recently put out their Desolette looks so nice. How did you select which images would go on the pendants? What has the response been like?
Parskid:Since they are small in size, I chose specifically images that were bold and colorful and well received as paintings. The response has been pretty good and I hope to do another in the near future.

OA: What's next for Parskid?
Parskid: My new solo show "Isolated Frontier" is about to open at Flatcolor Gallery in Seattle. After that I'm in a group art show at Zakka and I have a show in Oakland in June at Old Crow Tattoo and a solo show in
NY at Genuine Artikle in July. So it will be a busy summer but I'm looking forward to it.

Bonus Questions:

OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
Parskid: Bruce Bickford or Terence McKenna

OA: What type of music do you listen to and who are a few of your favorites?
Parskid: I listen to a lot of metal. I like a lot of other stuff too from indie to 80's to rap. But I've been listening to a lot of Wolves in the Throne Room , Electric Wizard, and Burzum while I'm painting recently though.

For more information on Parskid please visit his website.

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