Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably saw the recent – and highly successful – Kickstarter created by Chet Zar and Copro Gallery to support in the completion of Chet’s most monumental painting to date. With 173 backers supporting this challenge, Copro Gallery is proud to present the unique work in focus: a magnificent, 6 x 4-foot work titled The Temptation of Saint Anthony, which has been six months in the making. Opening this Saturday October 10, the exhibition will showcase the gigantic painting along with several studies that Chet created throughout the process of bringing this ambitious work to life. The exhibition will take place along three equally enticing exhibitions by Phil Tippett, Gabe Leonard and Katie Gamb. Read ahead to learn more about all of the upcoming events, plus a special mini interview with Chet Zar!
Chet Zar: ‘The Temptation of Saint Anthony’
Phil Tippett: ‘Artifacts of a Mad God: An Excavation’
Gabe Leonard: ‘Totally Under Control’
Katie Gamb: ‘Grounding’
Copro Gallery
Bergamot Station Arts Complex, 2525 Michigan Ave, #T5, Santa Monica, CA 90404, United States
Opening Reception: Saturday October 10, 2026 – 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. Artists Chet Zar, Phil Tippett & Gabe Leonard will be present.
Exhibition Dates: October 10– October 31, 2026
Phone: 310/829-2156
E-mail: Coprogallery@live.com
Chet Zar The Temptation of Saint Anthony
For this extraordinary piece, Chet has reimagined the classic theme of The Temptation of Saint Anthony, drawing particular inspiration from his favourite interpretation: Matthias Grünewald’s iconic Temptation of Saint Anthony, painted between 1512 and 1516.
Chet has transformed this centuries-old subject and brought it into his own distinctive visual language and the dark, fantastical world of the Chet Zar Universe.
The Temptation of Saint Anthony is one of the most enduring subjects in the history of Western art and literature. The story concerns the supernatural temptations faced by Saint Anthony the Great during his years of solitude in the Egyptian desert. The earliest surviving depiction of Anthony being attacked by demons is a 10th-century wall painting in the atrium of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome. The subject became increasingly popular in Europe beginning around 1450, inspiring some of the most celebrated artists in history, including Martin Schöngauer, Hieronymus Bosch, and Matthias Grünewald. Now, centuries later, Chet Zar adds his own interpretation to this remarkable artistic tradition.
Creating a painting of this scale and significance represents a historic moment in Chet’s career.
Interview with Chet Zar
How does it feel to have finally completed this monumental, 6×4 foot tall milestone in your career?
Chet Zar: It feels great! It’s not only the size that was so intimidating, but the number of figures in the painting as well. I have not ever painted that many unique characters in one painting before. It’s one of those things – I knew how to do it in principle, but until you actually do it, you are never quite sure if you can pull it off.
The Kickstarter you and Copro Gallery have hosted to support you in the making of this work has been incredible. 173 backers have helped you to reach your goal by funding your ability to focus on this sole painting for half a year. True patrons! You must be both elated and exhausted after such a whirlwind!
Yeah, having done a few Kickstarters in the past, I forgot how stressful they were! They usually start off strong, there is the lull in the middle and then it gets strong at the end again. But still nerve racking because until you hit the goal, you are not quite sure! But I am very happy and grateful for everybody who supported this project.
What triggered you to do your own painting reworking the theme of ‘The Temptation of Saint Anthony’?
It’s a painting I have loved since I was a little kid and the thought of doing my own version is something I have had in my mind for at least 20 years. I can’t quite remember when exactly, but I know it’s been there for a long time. Painting myself as St. Anthony was a newer idea, however. I think what spurred the the project more recently was some “master copy” (with my own twist) painting commissions I got over the last couple of years (“Knight, Death and The Devil”, “Isle of the Dead”, etc). They were so fun to do and they got a very positive response online, so it seemed like the timing was good for St Anthony.
Has this experience taught you anything?
It taught me a lot about large scale painting. It’s a whole different trip. Lots more preparation and planning goes into it. And of course the time it takes.
Do you think you will be creating more larger project works like this in the future?
The biggest issue for large scale works for me is the financial aspect. I barely made this work and I only was able to manage because of the Kickstarter. Taking six months to work on a piece is just not something that is financially feasible. So while I would love to, I’m not sure I will be able to anytime soon. Maybe if this piece sells!
I want to thank everybody who donated, shared and supported the Kickstarter in any way. I could not have finished this piece without them!
– Chet Zar
Phil Tippett Artifacts of a Mad God: An Excavation
From visionary writer, director, and two-time Academy Award–winning artist Phil Tippett comes a terrifyingly beautiful collection of artifacts from Mad God, his dark, surreal stop-motion masterwork more than three decades in the making. Presented at Copro Gallery at Bergamot Station, Artifacts of a Mad God is a surgical excavation of Tippett’s imagination – an unprecedented journey through the inspirations, experiments, obsessions, and painstaking craftsmanship that brought his nightmarish universe to life. Through original storyboards, drawings, journals, paintings, reference materials, behind-the-scenes imagery, screen-used puppets, miniature sets, props, creatures, and surviving fragments from the production, the exhibition opens a passage into the restless, ceaselessly creative mind from which Mad God emerged.
For more than forty years, Phil Tippett has transformed the language of cinematic creatures and visual effects. From the original Star Wars trilogy and RoboCop to Jurassic Park and Starship Troopers, his work has shaped some of the most enduring images in film history. With Dragonslayer, he brought Vermithrax Pejorative to the screen – the first truly modern cinematic dragon, whose influence can still be felt in everything from Reign of Fire to Game of Thrones – earning Tippett his place as the true father of modern screen dragons. But Mad God is his most personal and uncompromising creation: a vision he did not so much control as surrender to. Made without a fixed destination, it evolved through an instinctive, almost unconscious process, liberating creatures, horrors, and hellscapes that might otherwise have remained buried within the depths of his inexhaustible imagination. This exhibition reveals what was left behind by that extraordinary descent – the physical evidence of an artist overtaken by his own creation, and of an endangered handmade art form kept defiantly alive through obsession, instinct, and the human hand.
Gabe Leonard Totally Under Control
Grew Up in Wyoming. Made It in LA. Still Working. Over twenty-five years in. The work is figurative, cinematic, and rooted in the American West – figures on the edge of something, landscapes that carry their own weight, backgrounds that let your mind do the rest. Gabe Leonard’s paintings take you into a world rich with inimitable atmosphere and narrative intrigue. What tales lie behind these interesting characters? And where will their stories take them?
The long way around was the only way.
Gabe says this about the show: ‘The current pay more, get less, nature of the current landscape is a comedy on the cusp of tragedy. In a pre-apocalyptic landscape, good people with bad ideas prove the west never left…
Welcome to Town.’
Katie Gamb Grounding
Katie Gamb creates playful, pop-surreal paintings in oil. Rendered with kinder-cute technical prowess, her scenes unfold like storybook stills with a style of glazing that recalls old master techniques. Katie’s work is whimsical, romantic, and expansive, extending beyond the frame to contemplate narratives of nature, change and the passage of time. Katie Gamb is based in Milwaukee and studied Illustration at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.
About Copro Gallery //
The gallery, located at Bergamot Arts, is divided into two exhibition spaces, sometimes featuring a single artist but often two or three. Large group exhibitions are also featured often in conjunction with outside curators. In following with its original mission, Copro Gallery participates in International Art Fairs and curates outside exhibits to help promote their artists.
