Hard Pressed

OPENING RECEPTION
September 17, 2022 | 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

ON VIEW
September 17 – October 22, 2022

“The Burden”

Click here to download a sample of exhibit images and in-studio shots

Downtown Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) is proud to announce their next major solo show Hard Pressed, featuring new works from Los Angeles-based artist Kristen Liu-Wong. Set to premiere September 17th in Gallery 2, the show will be on view through October 22nd.

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 vibrant colors, heavy patterning, and tight compositions, the work draws inspiration from a variety of sources including but not limited to 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.

Regarding her upcoming show, Liu-Wong shares, “Hard Pressed is an exploration of the internal and external pressures that we have to contend with every day. Worry and strife are a part of the human condition and unfortunately over the past couple of years, it has become an ever-expanding constant in almost everyone’s life as disease, social discord, war, and environmental issues threaten to overwhelm us all. Pressures can also be interpreted as human impulses, forces in our very own nature, that inherently influence and sway us.”

Adding, “As I began to prepare my work for the show, I often found myself becoming consumed by my attempts to balance my everyday responsibilities with my work obligations, my personal obligations, and my societal obligations; this idea of a barely stable balancing act, and being consumed or overwhelmed by the minutiae of life, seeped its way into my work. In these paintings, harried women contort themselves into impossible poses as they multitask, a figure grapples with her inner demon, a woman burns as people cavort around her, precariously balanced objects threaten to topple over, and there is a constant underlying tension as the figures in the pieces strain and strive in their existence. These women grapple with the pressure to feel good, to look good, to act good, to fuck good, to be good, and to define what ‘good’ is for themselves. Water, serving as a recurring motif, seeps, flows, and spills over throughout many of the works, while problems that range from the mundane to the existential to the extraordinary play out as the viewers watch on.”

Hard Pressed will feature paintings on cradled wood panel done in acrylic and acrylic gouache, framed paintings on paper (also done in acrylic and acrylic gouache), painted wood cut out sculptures, and a large 15 ft. x 10 ft. un-stretched canvas painting. The show marks Liu-Wong’s fourth solo show at CHG, following Let the Mirror Move First (May 2021), Not a Flower Alone (collaborative show with Jillian Evelyn, Sept. 2019), and Conflict/Resolution (Sept. 2017). For in-studio videos of Liu-Wong working on pieces featured in her upcoming Hard Pressed show, click here and here.

Hard Pressed opens Saturday, September 17th from 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm in Gallery 2, alongside solo shows from Ben Frost, entitled Friends in High Places, in the Main Gallery and Messy Desk, entitled Messy Desk in the Cloudy Wonderland, in Gallery 3.

About Kristen Liu-Wong:
Born and raised in San Francisco, Kristen Liu-Wong attended Pratt Institute where she graduated with a BFA in Illustration. Since 2013, she has shown extensively in numerous galleries both domestically and abroad, and in addition to her gallery practice, she has worked with an extensive range of clients (including Vans, RVCA, Adidas, Nasty Gal, Adult Swim, and more) on projects ranging from murals to editorial illustrations to clothing lines. Liu-Wong currently lives and works in Los Angeles with her husband, artist Luke Pelletier.

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 to support 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 ─ appointments are only necessary during non-visiting hours. For more info and an upcoming exhibition schedule, visit CoreyHelfordGallery.com and follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. For available prints from CHG, visit CHGPrints.com.