Preston Pannek Won’t Let a Small Thing Like Death Stop Him From Doing His Art

Deep Ellum is known for many things: late nights, music, drinking, recreational substances, art, culture and a few other unmentionable activities. For some, these pleasures and vices, depending on who’s watching, are often reserved for a big weekend out, a hedonistic celebration, a show or just a way to blow off steam with the crew. For local artist and business owner Preston Pannek, Deep Ellum was his savior.

Originally from East Dallas, Pannek grew up in a small suburb of the city and liked to get himself in a lot of trouble early on. He ran away from home at 16, and lived out in East Texas doing what he could for work, causing a ruckus every chance he saw fit, while also avoiding the police. Over the course of the next decade, he grew tired of the renegade lifestyle he’d been living and decided to settle up all of his societal debts. It was his move afterwards to Deep Ellum that changed the trajectory of his life in the best possible way.

“At 29 I got it together,” Pannek says. “I took care of my warrants, stopped doing drugs and really started getting my life together. In 2011, I moved to Deep Ellum proper and everything started building for me.”

After the move, Pannek fell into a group of fast friends who were deeply involved in the local art and electronic music scenes. Pannek found himself a regular at both The Nines and the now defunct Lizard Lounge, meeting artists, musicians and enjoying new friendships and a lifestyle that were both totally new for him. Deep Ellum friends Don Needler, Clint Brown, Tommy Hawkins and The Nines owner Allen Falkner became Pannek’s new support system.

“They held me responsible for my actions and they changed me,” Pannek says. “They were friends that were actual friends. Without those people in my life I don’t know where I’d be.”

For Pannek, this sojourn into the creative world sparked something that resulted in his early attempts at creating art. He was driven by both his new friendships, and vibrancy of art culture in his neighborhood.

“When they said, ‘You did a good job’, it made me want to work harder,” Pannek says. “That serotonin was my new drug and has continued to be.”

After a chance encounter with an old schoolmate and art-man-about-town, Jarrod Fresquez, at his 30th birthday party, Preston was introduced by his friend to all kinds of art people, which helped shape his dream into a reality. This apexed with Pannek’s inclusion in the prestigious Art Lab gallery, in which he sold over 15 large-scale pieces back in 2015.

“Jarrod was big-time in Dallas,” Pannek says. “At the time, we were the party kings of East Dallas. He came over to see my loft, saw me doing stuff and introduced me to everyone.”

One person Fresquez introduced to Pannek would go on to be both his business partner and girlfriend, Lauren. Together in 2014 they opened their first business, The Lash Loft, which is still thriving today. It was also a new space for Pannek to showcase his latest creations and the place wound up becoming an art installation itself. Although the two amicably parted ways in 2016 as both partners and associates, it was The Lash Loft that helped provide an income for Pannek to pursue his art career. After the split, Pannek became properly certified as a lash technician, finishing lash school in a mere six weeks.

Over the course of this time, Pannek also made significant leaps in art, establishing himself as a recognized Deep Ellum muralist and garnering major news coverage from a veterans mural he created with then-girlfriend, now wife Adrienne Creasey-Pannek, which was painted over in black by Westdale Real Estate back in 2018. Pannek retaliated by starting The House of Pannek with Adrienne and painting over 35 large scale murals all over Deep Ellum.

“I found out that Adrienne is the most talented artist I’ve met to date, and that’s when we started The House of Pannek,” he says. “We did our first 10 murals for free and Lash Loft paved the way for us to be able to do that.”

His style is easily recognizable. Pannek’s murals often feature cartoons or pop culture figures in neon-bright colors, or Deep Ellum personalities painted with black and white swirling in the lenses of their sunglasses.

Getting back to his true renegade roots, Pannek took matters into his own hands and threw himself in opposition of the real estate company’s transgression by working even harder. The artist’s work morphed into something more meta — modern with a heavy emphasis on nostalgia, and most earnestly, nostalgia from childhood. The artist and wife duo completed over 35 murals in the neighborhood, that can be easily seen all over Main and Elm Streets as viewers walk and drive by. Each one is a puzzle of sorts that anyone could figure out with a chuckle.

“I was a latchkey kid like most of us were in the ’80s and ’90s,” Pannek says. “Because of that, a lot of what I learned was from movies and TV. I believe that the ’80s and ’90s are the true generation of pop culture, raised by pop culture. That’s why I enjoy using it in my art, bringing the viewer back to a time of their

 childhood, where things might’ve been a little bit easier.”

Later in 2022, The artist landed a dream contract, an opportunity to go on tour with beer brand Modelo, and make art all around the country. It was during this time that he realized that somewhere along the way he had seriously hurt himself, most likely while helping move a giant sculpture he had painted.

“I was moving this sculpture and felt this pop and I knew I wasn’t right because I was looking bluish-green,” Pannek says. “I go home to take a shower and find a giant lump in a very ‘sensitive area,’ so I decide to go to the doctor.”

It turned out that the artist had indeed hurt himself. Moving the giant sculpture had caused Pannek a double hernia and he needed emergency surgery immediately. After seeing a specialist the next day and hearing about the recovery time he needed, he was faced with a tough decision.

“I realized that I still had a huge Modelo contract, and had only three weeks of time to finish the work I promised them,” Pannek says. “So I decided to finish my contract and pushed my hernia back into my stomach. It came out two or three more times in that 3-week period.”

The artist finished the contract in true grit fashion and immediately underwent a successful surgery to bring him back to health. He is currently recovering from the painful ordeal, but has no regrets about the decision he made and finishing the project that could have cost him his life.

“To make it as a professional artist, that has to be your only goal,” he says. “If you lose focus, or take a back step, there are so many people with just as much talent that will step over you and kick you in the forehead along the way.”

Although Pannek’s art career is now moving into deeper waters and new territory, he’s never quick to forget the people who helped and inspired him along the way. Pannek acknowledges the early contributions of Deep Ellum artists Frank Campagna, Cabe Booth and Jeff Thornton as some of his earliest inspirations and feels honored to be recognized as one of the Deep Ellum artists of today.

“Frank has been an awesome mentor to me, especially in my later stage murals,” Pannek says. “I feel like there is a very sacred group of brothers and sisters who work together to build what there is now, and I came late. Campagna, Thornton and Booth build the foundation, passed it to IZK Davies and others, and Davies passed it to Adrienne and I. He trained us”

As far as the growth and changes that the city is currently undergoing, Pannek is sure when the dust settles, they will bring nothing but more opportunities for the Dallas and Deep Ellum art community.

“I believe Dallas is having first tastes of culture change; people from all over are coming here and seeing that Dallas does have good artists and musicians,” Pannek says. “In 10 years, you will see some good artists really break out of here”.