After taking courses in painting recreationally he was encouraged to change direction by a teacher, and received his BFA from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena,[6] where he was a student of Stephen Prina[7] and Mike Kelley.
"[2] At one of his earliest shows, at Los Angeles gallery Thomas Solomon's Garage (1990), Pardo exhibited handyman tools he had reworked.
[9] The single story, bent C-shaped redwood structure was completed in 1998, when it opened to the public as a temporary satellite space to MoCA.
His resulting work, Project, functioned in three ways: to redesign the museum lobby, to create a substantial bookshop, and to propose an exhibition for the first-floor gallery, a traditional white cube space.
The exhibition brochure states: "Eschewing finite edges, erasing borders both literal and metaphorical, Project problematizes the interface between art, architecture, and design.
Pardo incorporated concrete, bright orange metal screens, colorful tiling, and a kitchen collaboratively designed with the Reyes themselves.
"Every element in Tecoh is laboriously thought over by being designed and redesigned, the formalism of the near-cubist angular surfaces further reinforcing not only the "irregular topography", but also the ongoing conversation so crucial to Pardo's work.".