Ultima is a body of work that is deeply rooted in environmentalism, showing my concern for the future by depicting the ways in which mankind’s creations have an impact on the planet. Primarily it is about the modern conflict between the manmade world and the natural world, and between modern and primitive cultures. I portray this as an epic struggle and in my work these forces clash in theatrical, post-apocalyptic battlegrounds. My goal with this project is to create striking juxtapositions between the ruins of modern civilization and a futuristic ecological utopia. The narrative progression shows a rediscovery of these remnants belonging to the conceivably forgotten past.

-Nick Pedersen 

December 12, 2014 – February 14, 2015

This December Paradigm Gallery + Studio will be exhibiting Nick Pedersen’s Ultima Series, before the release of his next book documenting the series from start to finish. Ultima has been a three year project for Pedersen. It has entailed artist residencies in Canada and Iceland, expeditions to the mountains and deserts of the Southwestern United States, local trips around Philadelphia and New York, then many hours in the studio with models from human to feline to shoot the photographs before beginning the digital illustration process. Most recently, Pedersen has worked on the third part of this series, and photographs from each part will be on display together for the first time in this exhibition. 

Nick Pedersen is a photographer and illustrator originally from Salt Lake City, now living and working in the Philadelphia area. He holds a BFA degree in Photography, as well as an MFA degree in Digital Imaging from Pratt Institute in New York. He has shown artwork in galleries across the country and internationally, recently including the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, the Museum of Russian Art, the Slingluff Gallery, Bastardo Gallery, and Copper Palate Press. His work has also been featured in numerous publications such as After Capture, Beautiful Decay, Juxtapoz, Hi-Fructose, and Empty Kingdom. In the past few years he has also completed Artist Residencies at the Banff Center in Alberta, Canada and the Gullkistan Residency in Iceland. http://nick-pedersen.com

Please email sara@paradigm-gallery.com for all collector and press inquiries including exhibition preview requests.

View work by the artist online by clicking here.

www.ParadigmArts.org