Photos from the Adventure Show at Hero Complex Gallery

Friday, Feb 7th was the opening to the Adventure Show with Meghan Stratman and Nicole Gustafsson at Hero Complex Gallery in Los Angeles. First up, I want to give a huge shout out to the Hero Complex Gallery, Adam, Soua, and crew for hosting our show and doing an all around steller job hanging and organizing the show. And THANK YOU everyone who was able to come out that night, it was wonderful to see familiar and new faces. Its always amazing to finally meet someone that you've been talking to on twitter or facebook in person! The entire show is now available online for everyone to see. 

Soua, Meghan, Nicole (me), Adam at Hero Complex Gallery - Framed prints in background with black wood frames.

Installation view of my paintings

Haunted Depths, 10.25x10.25 inches, gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2013
SOLD

I love a good ghost story, and the concept of a haunted ghost ships sunken beneath the waters was the basis for this painting. I love watching documentaries where they dive to sunken vessels or come upon wreckage preserved in the waters.

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Archoleolgy Is Our Religion, 14x14 inches, gouache and ink, © Nicole Gustafsson 2013
Original Painting Available  |  Prints Available

Indiana Jones is one of my all time favorite adventuring movie characters. I couldn't get enough of the movies as a kid, and I love watching them over and over again. I remember finding an Indy style hat at a garage sale and buying it so I could be an adventurer too. The opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark is very memorable to me so I choose to illustrate a view of the traps and Indy running to escape on the plane.

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Isle of the Luckless, 14x8 inches, gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2013
Original Painting Available

Pirate lore romanticized by Howard Pyle, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, and movies like Pirates of the Caribbean are some of the inspirations behind this painting. I created an island unlucky to those that visit, wreckage from ships and bones tell the tale, but it seems that treasure can still be found. Just remains to be seen if the party gets out unscathed!

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Jungle Law, 8 x 8 inches, gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2014
Original Painting Available

This painting is based on a tale The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (also love his story of Rikky-Tikki-Tavi the fierce snake-fighting mongoose ). Here Mowgli is with Bagheera observing those silly monkeys who care little about the laws of the jungle.

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Tell Us A Story Wendy, 11x11 inches, gouache and ink ©Nicole Gustafsson 2013
Original Painting Available  |  Prints Available

This painting is based on Peter Pan by J.M. Barie, the book created such an imaginative world with indians, pirates, tree houses, fairies, mermaids. I always felt kin to Peter who never wanted to grow up. While I based my illustration off of the book, I think my favorite incarnation of Peter Pan is the movie Hook. Love that they took the next step to show Neverland years later after Peter left. SOOOO GOOD (gotta go watch the movie again now).

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Sound of Ultimate Suffering, 8x10inches, gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2014
Original Painting Available  |  Prints Available

The inspiration behind this painting is the story of The Princess Bride. The movie will always hold a dear place in my heart (and yup I've read the book, but I'll always think of the movie first). There are so many amazing characters brought to life by the actors who were PERFECT for the role. I might have had a little crush on the Dread Pirate Roberts growing up, but who didn't! First time I watched it I was shocked that they killed him in the Pit of Despair, but have no fear, he makes his comeback and gets his true luv.

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Your Secret Is Safe With Me, 10x10 inches, gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2014
Original Painting Available

I just recently read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and I love how the author described the gardens on the property. It was almost a labyrinth of shrub walls and different corridors, so much so that the children could sneak around and no one could see them. The colors I used are my version of a misty english evening.

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The True Born King, 10x10 inches, Gouache and Ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2014
Original Painting Available

The myths and legends surround King Arthur and Camelot are the inspirations behind this painting. Depending on what text you are reading there are quite a few different versions of the tales so I did my own mix of what I love about Arthur. Dragons are not mentioned a whole lot in the tales, but still included one as a nod to the Pendragon name and a shift from magic to men.

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The Spell Caster, 8x8 inches, gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson
SOLD

Witchcraft, spell casting, and magic is the inspiration behind this painting. Here the little witch is practicing doing enchantments on her house (she has her little instruction book next to her). Hopefully she doesn't botch it! I like Harry Potter series addresses learning magic (would love to go to Hogwarts myself), and Kikki's Delivery Service where she is a witch in training. Characters who have to learn and develop their gifts are really interesting to me. 

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The Master Gate, 9x9inches, gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2013
SOLD

Another fantasy based piece depicting our groups Dungeons and Dragons characters. I used to play D&D in college and loved it, but then after college everyone moved away and my husband and I never found another group to play with, until now! We formed a group of 4 lady players and a DM (my guy), and we play online via google hangouts. All four of us players are artists, so it's really fun to see the sketches and doodles from D&D night. Here in my painting I depict our adventuring group meeting The Master Gate (who later comes alive and we have to prove our worth to pass.) If you are interested in learning more about our D&D group we have started a website to gather all the stories, artwork and we are working on a podcast as well.

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Tombs Beneath, 14x14 inches, Gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2014
Original Painting Available

Tomb Raider, my game series of choice as a teenager.  I loved playing a female adventurer. At the time video games were getting a bad rap for "violence" and I had to convince my parents to let me play the game. The different environments, the music, I really LOVED IT ALL. I have played the first 6 games, but then dropped off as the series started to change. I would like to play the whole series again start to finish, and play some of the new ones that have come out in recent years. 

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Waiting for the Call, 4.5x4.5 inches, Gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2014
Original is SOLD  |  Bonus Prints come with in-store purchases

I really got into Batman again recently. Listening to the Fatman on Batman podcast with Kevin Smith has been awesome, and I love hearing the creators, writers, artists, voice actors, talk about the Batman projects that they've worked on. I don't really have a FAVORITE Batman, but the '66 tv series with Adam West had super sweet costumes so that's what I based this piece off of.

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Undying Affection, 3.25x3.25 inches, gouache and ink, ©Nicole Gustafsson 2014
Original Painting Available

Somehow I went through 28 years of my life never seeing The Bride of Frankenstein. But I watched it recently because I love classic monster movies, and I LOVED IT. When she comes alive and looks around it's just the best cinema moment for me. And I DO think that she could have learned to love Frankensteins monster, they just needed more time. 

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I framed all my original paintings with white wood frame, double white mat, and UV conservation glass. Mats and foamcore backing are all acid free archival quality and keeps the paintings safe and sound.

The framed prints come with a black frame, white mats.

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I had a blast showing with Meghan, here are a few pieces of her work for the show. Her works are particularly impressive in-person where you can see all the different paper layers up close. I tried to pick a favorite of hers from the show, but I love them all!

Installation view of Meghan's artwork

There and Back Again by Meghan Stratman

Here is one of Meghan's paper cut pieces based on the video game Journey. This original painting is still available and she also has giclee prints of it too. 

Great Snakes! By Meghan Stratman

What Have They Got In There, King Kong? by Meghan Stratman

Visit Meghan's blog to see more of her work: http://bunnypirates.blogspot.com/

Entire Adventure Show available online at Hero Complex Gallery