WHERE: Copro Nason Gallery, 2525 Michigan Ave. T5., Santa Monica, Ca. 90404
WHAT: "Heaven & Hell " The Art of Miles Thompson & Andrew Brandou
DATE: July 16, 2005 through August 6 opening reception July 16 8-11:30 p.m.
CONTACT: Gary Pressman, Copro/Nason Gallery
Copro/Nason gallery presents a 2 man show featuring the art of Miles Thompson and Andrew Brandou. Titled Heaven & Hell, it presents an unusual spin on the age old subject. Brandou, focusing on Hell, follows two college students in Nebraska after they decided to smoke ice, a highly concentrated form of Speed. The two found themselves lost in a blizzard, and made a series of 911 calls desperately seeking help. Unfortunately, the calls were riddled with hallucinatory descriptions of what they were seeing, and made no sense to 911 operators. As the night went on, the frustration between the 911 operators and the couple grew, and ultimately no headway was made to locate the doomed pair. Both froze to death, and were found after extensive searches the following week. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
Miles Thompson presents us Heaven. "It is said that behind every great man there is a great woman...count your blessings on the whole friends. It is written that the very first woman defied God in the garden of Eden and thank GOD! Eve ate from the tree of knowledge because Adam might never have reason to do so. Every living thing that creepeth upon the earth owes each glorious sunrise, sunset and awesome lunar spectacle to the rib of Adam that became the complex and diaphanous Eve. Woman's body is the door through which all of humanity has passed into life on this speck of sunlit dust we call the earth." Miles Thompson's series of images is a homage to the women we now and soon will come to know and love." Heaven", pays homage to the true origin of power in the universe.
Andrew Brandou works as the artist Howdypardner, creating work based on inspiration from children’s books and LSD, Charlie Manson, and opium dens. The Howdypardner pieces are rendered in the technique of late 40’s children’s books, such as the Golden Book series. As Kirsten Anderson of Roq La Rue recently said, “Andrew Brandou’s new paintings are an unexpectedly moving series based on the infiltration of the corporation into all aspects of life, and the resistance to that, particularly in the form taken by the Situationist Internationale , as well as radical posters created by the Black Panther party and Chinese Communist propaganda posters. Seeing these iconic images translated through Brandou's trademark Golden Books style animals and colors adds a new dimension to the impact of these images, rather than diluting them with cuteness
Miles Thompson is an original California, Californian. His love of local comics, film, and narrative structure in conjunction with visual media was his motivation to join L.A.’s thriving entertainment industry as an animation director/designer/ illustrator /fine artist. He is a graduate of Cal arts and his animation credits include Dog Pile, Brian Brains and Empty Roll. Miles was Story Board Artist on Dexter’s Lab as well as Warner Brother’s Mucha Lucha.
