Corey Helford Gallery: Something Edgy This Way Comes

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Three new shows opened last Saturday at Corey Helford Gallery:  large scale exhibitions by Japanese artist Kazuki Takamatsu, pop surrealist painter Camilla d’Errico, and Japanese artist Hirabayashi Takahiro.

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Camilla d’Errico’s “Dances with Dreams” is a candy colored trip into the subconscious. Evoking fairy tales and rainbows, these surreal and delicate pieces reveal dreams and the subconscious mind.

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“I wanted to created a relationship about dreams,” d’Errico says. “The girls with eyes open are dreaming. With their eyes closed, that’s a dream the viewer is having, it’s up for interpretation. I want the purpose of those pieces to be that you tell yourself a story. The girls with their eyes covered are waking dreams. That is how we live our lives, in a dream-like state.”

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Inspired as a child by the work of Brian Froud, an English fantasy illustrator,  d’Errico “looked for magic in the real world. It’s more interesting thinking that magic exists.” Certainly her works create their own magic.

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“Decoration Armament,” which spread across the cavernous main gallery at Corey Helford,  is his third solo show for the gallery. Ghostly and ethereal the monochrome images are startling, like x-rays for the soul. But the inspiration for these works is surprising. Kazuki Takamatsu  showed in LA two years ago and was drawn to the fashions worn by visitors to the gallery.

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“It was all so attractive to him,” his translator explained, “that he was inspired to create the figures in this exhibition based on that experience.” Another inspiration, and one more easily observed: “He also thinks about the afterlife. About good and evil. The skull in some works is a symbol of the narrative of evil.”

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Hirabayashi Takahiro’s “Trial of Souls” is lush, hyper-realistic work, dealing with the borders between sky, land and sea, man and nature, childhood and adulthood. The artist chooses young girls as his main subjects, viewing them as guides or guardians for beings in transition.

Corey Helford is often the spot for edgy, interesting, intense, and emotionally consuming exhibitions that defy categorization. This trio of solo shows certainly fits that bill. These experiential exhibitions run until May 21, and the gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday.

Corey Helford Gallery is located at 541 S. Anderson Street in Los Angeles.

  • Genie Davis; Photos: Jack Burke

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