Downtown Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) is proud to announce the return of San Francisco-based award-winning artist/illustrator Eric Joyner for his 11th exhibition at the gallery, entitled Someday World, premiering February 19th in the Main Gallery.
Joyner, who is renowned around the world for his “robots and donuts” scenes, has created an irresistible body of work. Joyner’s art, which has been licensed from the likes of Disney, Warner Brothers, and the hit HBO show Silicon Valley, depicts the tenuous conflict between children’s toys and adulthood as a portrait of another reality. His work is characterized by his playful and surrealistic style that creates harmony between the mix of cartoon characters, especially Japanese tin robots and colorful donuts inserted in all kinds of landscapes from the Age of Dinosaurs to the bottom of the ocean.
Featuring 24 new works, Someday World marks Joyner’s largest show to date at CHG. Regarding his new series, Joyner shares, “I started this series 18 months ago, at the start of the pandemic, with no particular focus except to entertain myself and pass the time. It was a time of extreme isolation for me and for a lot of others. Not socializing gave me a lot more time to work and reflect on remembered human behaviors and how I might show them in the various tin robots and other plastic toys that I have. In addition, more time than usual was put into the execution of the paintings. I am very happy how they turned out and look forward to seeing everyone, someday soon.”
Last September, Joyner’s work was featured in a segment about the “Duck Stamp” on HBO’s Emmy and Peabody-award-winning show, Last Week Tonight, hosted by John Oliver. In the segment (click here to watch), Oliver shared a history of the stamp, explained that it has raised more than $1.1 billion for habitat conservation, and then revealed that he and his production team were responsible for the entries of five satirical paintings into last year’s Federal Duck Stamp contest, one being Joyner’s “masterpiece,” titled “Duck Hunt” (concept sketch seen below). The winning painting of the annual art competition is made into that year’s Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, also called the “Duck Stamp.” Oliver then auctioned off the five submissions on eBay and donated the proceeds (nearly $100,000) to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The final auction price for Joyner’s painting was $33,200.
Someday World opens Saturday,February 19th from 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm in the Main Gallery, alongside a five-artist exhibition featuring Jesús Aguado, Kari Tirrell, Leegan Koo, Sun-Mi, and Yasuhito Kawasaki in Gallery 2, and a solo show from Ryan Heshka, entitled Vile-O-Vision, in Gallery 3. CHG will be requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of entry into the gallery, plus guest temperatures will be checked and masks will be required. 200 people at a time will be allowed into the gallery’s 12,000 square foot space, which will be monitored by CHG’s staff. After the opening, CHG returns to their regular visiting hours (Thursday through Saturday from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm).
About Eric Joyner:
Eric Joyner was born in San Mateo, CA, a suburb of San Francisco. His childhood was filled with reading comics (mostly Mad, Creepy, Eerie and newspaper comic strips), playing sports, and going to school, as well as drawing and painting. He began to take painting lessons after being inspired by a visit to the De Young’s Van Gogh exhibit in San Francisco. Joyner went on to attend the Academy of Art and the University of San Francisco, establishing himself as a commercial artist, creating illustrations for Mattel Toys, Levi’s, Microsoft, and Showtime. A member of San Francisco Society of Illustrators and New York Society of Illustrators, Joyner has been an instructor and speaker at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University and California College of the Arts. His work has been featured in San Jose Museum of Art’s exhibition Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon, and he has shown in numerous galleries and cultural institutions worldwide.
About Corey Helford Gallery:
Established in 2006 by Jan Corey Helford and her husband, television producer/creator Bruce Helford (The Conners, Anger Management, The Drew Carey Show, and George Lopez), Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) has since evolved into one of the premier galleries of New Contemporary art. Its goal as an institution is supporting the growth of artists, from the young and emerging, to the well-known and internationally established. CHG represents a diverse collection of international artists, primarily influenced by today’s pop culture and collectively encompassing style genres such as New Figurative Art, Pop Surrealism, Neo Pop, Graffiti, and Street Art. Located in downtown Los Angeles at 571 S. Anderson St. Los Angeles, CA 90033, in a robust 12,000 square foot building, CHG presents new exhibitions approximately every six weeks. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm, with visiting hours being Thursday through Saturday from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm. For more info and an upcoming exhibition schedule, visit CoreyHelfordGallery.com
