Corey Helford Gallery Presents Ben Frost (4/6-5/11)
PURE SUGAR
OPENING RECEPTION
April 6, 2019 | 7pm - 11pm
ON VIEW
April 6 – May 11, 2019
“Your Weird 25c Large Size Fantasy” (acrylic and aerosol on canvas, 66” x 48”)
Click here for a sample of exhibit images
On Saturday, April 6th, downtown Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery will proudly unveil their next solo show with Australian Pop Art painter Ben Frost, entitled PURE SUGAR, in Gallery 2.
Frost, who is coming off a recent collaboration with fashion designer Jeremy Scott for his Winter 2018 Moschino line (profiled here by Vogue), is known for his kaleidoscopic Pop Art, mash-up paintings that take inspiration from areas as diverse as graffiti, collage, photo-realism and sign-writing. PURE SUGAR is a playful and often confronting exploration of the nature of “excess” within our contemporary society. Using colorful and dynamic pop art motifs, the artist presents a series of satirical and provocative observations of western culture that is as sour as it is sweet.
The exhibition consists of over 70 new paintings, from large scale acrylic and spray paint stencils on canvas, to tiny hand painted “found” packages such as McDonald fry boxes, pharmaceutical packages, fashion bags and cereal boxes. Both a celebration and critique of consumerist culture, Frost’s work is paradoxically a love/hate affair with the colors, icons and logos of the advertising world that we are obsessively immersed within.
"Sugar is something that we all know is bad for us - but we crave and desire it so badly.” Frost says, “It’s a metaphor for how we experience the world, a level of attraction and repulsion that keeps increasing as we dig deeper in the mediated social-media environment that continues to spoon-feed us a ‘quick-fix’ to cure all our problems. After all, a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
Frost’s work unveils a dystopic vision of society from behind a saccharine-sweet facade of Disney characters and the advertising. Each work requires further inspection, as on first glance, the kaleidoscopic colors and perfectly executed clean lines are intoxicating. Looking more closely, the fantasy is not what it seems. The nostalgic dreams mutate into subliminal subversions, with unlikely juxtapositions that question our relationship to the things we hold so dear.
PURE SUGAR opens Saturday, April 6 from 7pm-11pm in Gallery 2, alongside CHG’s 13th anniversary group show The Fine Art of Street and Graffiti in the Main Gallery and solo show from Josie Morway in Gallery 3. The reception is open to the public and all shows will be on view through Saturday, May 11. The space is open Tuesday - Saturday, 12pm - 6pm and is located at 571 S. Anderson St. Los Angeles, CA 90033.
About Ben Frost:
Australian artist Ben Frost is best known for his satirical and often provocative Pop Art mash-up paintings that critique our involvement in consumerist society. His work is as diverse as it is perverse. Fusing cartoon characters with romantic and erotic manga appropriations, he creates a visual framework that is bold, confronting and often controversial.
Working on both large and small format, Frost’s work continues the same counter-culture thematic throughout different and varied mediums. From large-scale stencil paintings on canvas, to fastidious acrylic works on “found packages” (such as McDonald’s fry boxes, pharmaceutical packages, and cereal boxes), his work is deeply immersed in the color and fervor of the advertising world.
Over the 18 years Frost’s work has been exhibited around the world, including solo shows in Australia, London, New York, Sydney, Los Angeles, Austria, Toronto, Singapore, Miami, Torino, Thailand and San Francisco, as well as group shows in Beijing, Mongolia, Amsterdam, Berlin and throughout the USA. His work has been featured by the BBC, Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and Harper's Bazaar, among others. In 2018, he collaborated with fashion designer Jeremy Scott for his fall/winter collection for Moschino, designing all the graphics for his range.
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 (Anger Management, The Drew Carey Show, George Lopez, The Oblongs) 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, the production and promotion of their artwork, and the general production of their exhibits, events and projects.
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, and Post-Graffiti.
After nine years in Culver City, CHG relocated in December 2015 to a robust 12,000 square foot building in Downtown Los Angeles, where it continues to host exhibitions within the heart of the city’s art community. The current space boasts three separate galleries, each of which house individual artist and group exhibitions, whereas the main gallery offers 4,500 square feet, providing total immersion for its attendees. New exhibitions are presented approximately every five weeks. For more info and an upcoming exhibition schedule, visit CoreyHelfordGallery.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
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