Pixel Stud

San Francisco based artist Pixel Stud's interest in art spawned from an isolated rural childhood in which books, Madonna, plastic toys, consumer culture and the surrounding redwood forest stoked an active imagination. He concocted a variety of alternate, complimentary worlds to the one he lived in: a LEGO city (featured in the book: Weird Rooms by A. Vertikoff), hand written comics, hundreds of made-up action figures illustrated on 3×5 cards, imaginary corporations plotted on graph paper, work-flows of sociological friend maps (before the internet), pyramids and towns made out of wood and earth, floor plans for shopping malls, and skyscrapers so tall they could only be drawn on the longest rolls of butcher paper – stapled together.

Today, he paints with a technique that feels true to that legacy. He applies acrylic to canvas but forgo the traditional brush for a plastic LEGO brick. The blocky brush leaves behind a series of analog (round) acrylic pixels as a footprint. As the dots come together, the image claims and incorporates recycled candy wrappers, and objects found on the streets of San Francisco: receipts, napkins, fabric softener, MUNI transit passes, anything discarded and un-loved finds a home in his work.

Pixel Stud has shown extensively on the West Coast, and recently exhibited internationally. We're excited to bring this exciting work to Chicago.