MIKE PARILLO | RECKLESS OPTIMISM
Mike Parillo, a respected commercial artist for the snowboard industry for the past two decades, has spent the last ten years crafting a new language. This language is composed from a style that refines his signature vocabulary of symbols, colors and concepts into a more definite narrative. In November, he steps into the contemporary art world with both feet as he presents his first full body of work. Reckless Optimism, composed of sixteen new works created in 2012, is a shimmering collection of the aesthetic that he has compounded into a mine of carefully compounded hues, shapes, and imagery. This show represents Parillo’s most complete and largest undertaking as an artist. This exhibition cannot be missed. Reckless Optimism is the first solo exhibition at the newly opened CES Contemporary gallery in Laguna Beach, California.
The narrative of the world perceived by the senses that Parillo paints is more than the archetypal tale of success and pitfalls. Referencing a color key that he created exclusively for the series, each burst of color denotes a particular emotion experienced as one grasps or strays from the trajectory that he or she has set for the self to follow. Bright, inviting cloud-like forms obscure the view from the bottom, and slick, shiny forms distort the top, creating a path for the invisible viewer which is hardly navigated but rather is tripped through blindly, tempted by beauty, promises, and an illusory – if not deceitful freedom. Along the way one is guided by equally lurid symbols of wisdom – best seen from midway through a sharp fall off the top of the proverbial mountain.
Parillo’s imagery is best characterized as concentrated mini-modules. Images and compositions are manipulated using his preferred palette of Day-Glo and metallic oil and/or acrylic paints in a whirlwind of small, frenetic brush strokes. Abstractions erupt from various locations in the cluster of each work, occasionally yielding to an appendage of representation and symbolism regarding hope and failure, such as a ladder or a rope. These clusters form surrealistic maps through which visions from the id, the ego and the super-ego are all realized. In a departure from pop surrealism’s effort to make ironic the presence of the unconscious into the conscious, Parillo treats the unconscious and conscious as equals, owning the narrative through a perfect composite of truths.
ABOUT MIKE PARILLO
b. 1972, Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in Jackson, WY
Mike Parillo grew up in Los Angeles and spent his teen years shredding the local Big Bear Mountains. After a series of successes in the sport that would soon become one the most popular wintertime activities in the world, he became involved in visual art. He has moved frequently in the past two decades between Los Angeles, California, Prague, Czech Republic and Jackson, Wyoming. Parillo’s oil and acrylic paintings evolved to reflect the lifestyle that he has always thrived on – dynamic, full of movement, and bursting with observations about fantasy and reality.
An icon in the snowboard industry, Mike Parillo is respected as one of the leading artistic visionaries of the action sports industry. Mike has contributed substantial inspiration and essential work to major companies like Volcom, Lib Technologies, DC, Contour and the TTR organization. He also currently works with the top athletes in the sport on custom commission based work.
ABOUT CES CONTEMPORARY
CES Contemporary is a new fine art gallery and artists’ organization that specializes in exhibiting local and international emerging contemporary art. The majority of artists exhibited is emerging in their careers and are between the ages of 18 and 45. The gallery’s aesthetic is shaped by the creative output of ambitious young talent, as it becomes a part of the overall international contemporary art scene.
ASYMBOL Gallery
An extremely limited edition of prints from this exhibition will be produced by ASYMBOL Gallery beginning November 10th. Please visit: asymbolgallery.com for more information, purchase options and availability.
Our Special thanks to Bluebird MALBEC for the Vino 
Press contact:
Amy Spain | Gallery Manager / Public Relations
Gallery: + 1 949 547 1716
Email: amy@cescontemporary.com
For more information on CES Contemporary:
Carl E. Smith | Owner / Director
Mobile: + 1 949 370 0554
Gallery: + 1 949 547 1716
Email: ces@cescontemporary.com
Skype: carlesmithart
CES Contemporary
480 Ocean Avenue / A
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
www.cescontemporary.com
I’m on a plane heading back to the states after a crazy week in Austria. I flew over for the 20th “Air &Style” stadium kicker contest…pretty much just an excuse to rip some runs in Arlberg with my longtime friend Jamie Lynn and Volcom’s Pat Barraza.
