OPENING RECEPTION. September 21, 2019 | 7pm – 11pm. ON VIEW: September 21 – October 26, 2019. COREY HELFORD GALLERY. 571 S. Anderson St. Los Angeles, CA 90033. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 12pm – 6pm. (310) 287-2340
Downtown Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery is proud to announce a two-artist show with vibrant abstraction painter Jillian Evelyn, partnered with the candy color, heavy patterning, and tight compositions of Kristen Liu-Wong‘s work. Opening Saturday, September 21st in Gallery 2, Not a Flower Alone features new works from the Los Angeles-based artists that attempt to reflect the human experience utilizing flowers.
Lui-Wong draws inspiration from American folk art, cartoons she watched as a kid, architecture, and for Not a Flower Alone, floriography (language of flowers). Regarding Not a Flower Alone, she shares, “In this show I’m using floriography as a launching point to explore instances of what makes us human and humanity’s emotional connection to the natural world, drawing on flowers to say what can not necessarily be spoken or expressed out loud. The language of flowers is an old one who’s various forms can be found throughout time and in every culture — by using this unspoken and cryptic language, moments of friendship, grief, rage, sensuality, and isolation are communicated and emphasized. Flowers are used as an expression of self; in them we see reflected back all of our best and worst qualities, in them we see our own fragility and vulnerabilities, our hardiness, the enduring nature of life itself, and the inevitability of death. My work draws heavily upon both Eastern and Western symbolism, referencing childhood cartoons, Victorian mourning culture, Japanese shunga, Greek mythology and a multitude of other sources to create a universe that mirrors both the diversity in our world and the unifying nature of our collective experience.”
Evelyn’s instantly recognizable paintings feature abstracted figures bathed in vibrant colors. In speaking about the show, she states: “Throughout art history, whether fine art or theater, flowers denote emotions in flux. Whether these emotions are grief, rebirth, death or even a simple gesture of unrequited love, flowers can be used as transitory depictions of sadness or powerful symbols of beauty. They are undeniably used as hints by both authors and artists. This newest series of works uses flowers as a means to convey an artist reexamining process and practice, and the confidence and painstaking personal examination that comes with re-engaging with the art-making process. My figures are solitary and powerful, pondering and inquisitive, shaped by a quiet exploration of actions and consequences. The bodies contort and angle themselves as if a new un-ventured pose will beget new connections with the self. The flowers serve as a reminder that life deserves questioning, moments where words and definitions cannot be applied to the complications of emotions. Daisies may represent innocence, and roses love, but my works strip themselves extraneous allusions and lay bare the power of solitary self-introspection.”
Not a Flower Alone opens Saturday, September 21st in Gallery 2, alongside a solo show from Ian Francis, entitled The Call of the Void, in the Main Gallery and a solo exhibition from Kai and Sunny, entitled In the Drift, in Gallery 3. Corey Helford Gallery is located at 571 S. Anderson St. Los Angeles, CA 90033 and normal hours are Tuesday – Saturday, from 12pm – 6pm.
About Kristen Liu-Wong:
Kristen Liu-Wong is a Los Angeles-based artist from San Francisco, who studied Illustration at Pratt Institute. Since graduating in 2013, she has shown extensively in numerous galleries on the East and West coasts and some places in between and beyond.
Liu-Wong’s work blends everyday occurrences from her life with abstracted nightmares and crude humor. Trained as an illustrator, she tries to tell a story with every piece she makes, developing a personal and slightly sinister narrative within each painting. Using candy colors, heavy patterning, and tight compositions, the work draws inspiration from American folk art, the cartoons she watched as a kid, Shunga (Japanese term for erotic art), and her appreciation for architecture. She is always striving to make work that is highly personal but altered enough to allow individual interpretations to be applied to every story she paints.
About Jillian Evelyn:
Jillian Evelyn is a Los Angeles-based artist from Michigan. Evelyn’s paintings investigate the depths of awkwardness, discomfort, and contortion both from external expectations and within ones’ own thoughts. Evelyn paints her figures and abstractions bathed in vibrant color. She is able to reflect her personal conflicts while allowing for the viewer’s personal interpretations.
About Corey Helford Gallery:
Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) was first established in 2006 by Jan Corey Helford and her husband, television producer and creator, Bruce Helford (The Conners, Anger Management, The Drew Carey Show, George Lopez) and has since evolved into one of the premier galleries of New Contemporary art. Its goals as an institution are the support and growth of young and emerging, to well-known and internationally established artists.
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. CHG is located in Downtown Los Angeles in a robust 12,000 square foot building presenting new exhibitions approximately every six weeks.
