United in Childhood: Corey Helford Gallery expounds on the spectrum of youth

“The Big Apple in My Eye” by Japanese artist Aica is on display at Corey Helford Gallery’s “Five-Artist” exhibition.

Corey Helford Gallery debuted its “Five-Artist” exhibition in early July, featuring five world-class artists. The show includes works from Japanese artist Aica, UK-based mixed-media artist Annie Montgomerie, Los Angeles resident/painter and illustrator Bob Dob, New Orleans-born artist, sculptor and toymaker Sean O’Meallie and Japanese oil painter Tada Koiichiro. The exhibition will continue through Saturday, Aug. 19.

The exhibit is imbued with “a sense of nostalgia for childhood,” said CHG director Sherri J. Trahan. “We always like the dark twist at Corey Helford Gallery.”

Between O’Meallie’s toy popper guns, Montgomerie’s upcycled children’s dolls, Aica’s fairy figures and Dob’s take on Disney characters, the exhibit conveys the freedom of youth.

The show marks Montgomerie’s first appearance in the gallery, ahead of her first solo show at CHG in the coming year. Walking the line between cutesy charm and something darker, Montgomerie combines her love of vintage and textiles to create sculptures from upcycled children’s dolls with found items that might inspire her. Her dolls sit somewhere between Frankenstein and Peter Rabbit, reflecting her love of horror and twee.

“I don’t mind admirers of my work saying it’s cute, but I hope my art has more to say. I like to skirt around the outside of the dark with a hint of sorrow or regret that goes with the passing of time,” Montgomerie said. “I strive to make my work magnify the emotions of childhood, from sadness to joy, through their expressions and stance.”

Montgomerie began making her textile animal sculptures in 2013, pointing to influences such as vintage toys, music, American and African folk-art dolls, old-school photography and artists like Paul Klee, Julie Arkell and the Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter. In the last 10 years, she has built an impressive online following with collectors worldwide, including actor Demi Moore and musician Gerard Way.

The other four artists have all participated in CGH shows before, including Aica, who previously headlined a solo exhibit at the gallery. The exhibition includes Aica’s new series, “Our Fairies of the Scents.” As the title suggests, the series explores the “invisible magic of scent,” Aica described. “I paint the unseen things that touch our hearts. Scent stirs my imagination more than any other sense. It flutters around us like fairies, sharing their pixie dust.”

The scents that inspire her paintings are sprinkled throughout the series.

“The gentle scent of flowers comforted me when I was sad. The smell of my cats’ tummies filled me with nostalgia and peace. The fragrance of cherry blossoms reminded me of my first love. The whisper of the wind in the forest caressed me with the fresh scent of trees. And I recalled the aroma of a Hiba tree onsen in Japan, where I traveled with my mother,” she said. “We remember these scents, not only from the present but also from the past. A scent can make us feel like we are with someone or somewhere.”

Originally from Japan, Aica now lives in the bustling metropolis of Manhattan, which contrasts with the serenity of her work.

“The subject in my paintings is a sanctuary for girls who look innocent on the outside while, underneath, already carry emotional scars on their hearts. It is a sanctuary where they can be free and be themselves,” she explained. “In their ethereal world, everything has a soul or a spirit. A flower has a soul, even a drop of a tear has a spirit, and they keep girls’ hearts warm. Like witnessing a girl’s isolated emotions being released into the air, I hope through my work to inspire someone who may hold sadness within to start loving someone or something around them.”

Dob frequently contributes to group and solo shows in the U.S. and Europe. His new series “Complementary Colored” is partially inspired by the 1970 invasion of Disneyland by the radical Youth International Party, known as Yippies, who sought to rebel against the establishment. Dob’s “Mouseketeer Army” depicted in his paintings reflect characters dressed for battle against the invasion. He was inspired by the designs and color palettes of early Disneyland signage and the Mad Hatter Tea Party ride. The characters run amok amid the backdrop of Dob’s childhood in Hermosa Beach, chock-full of surf, skate and punk cultures.

In Dob’s world, the dark side of human nature is as present as the light.

“Life isn’t always good times. While in our youth, we experience many things we would rather forget, but this is what defines us. That’s why my characters have an adolescent quality to them. I’ve been very fortunate in experiencing and hearing many great stories in my life, which now find their way into my paintings,” Dob said.

O’Meallie’s new series, “Jar of Candy Poppers,” is on display at CHG, featuring 25 handmade wooden gun sculptures, each equipped with a spring-loaded bullet, crammed into a cookie jar with a ten-cent price sticker.

“The bullet can be pushed back into the gun, but it pops back out. The bullet never leaves the gun. It’s nonlethal gun play at a very attractive price,” O’Meallie said. “I wanted to comment on gun mania in the USA.”

After years of teaching studio art at the University of Colorado, O’Meallie moved to New York City, where he began his career as a toy inventor, creating concepts for the international marketplace. This journey into toy making inspired him to create his own painted wooden sculptures, known for their multilayered design and tactile allure.

Koiichiro’s new series, “Phantom Message,” rounds out the show, depicting figures not of this world. For example, the painting “Kimi” was born spontaneously as Koiichiro explored the dynamic relationship between the canvas and paint.

Koiichiro’s oil paintings employ a delicate technique of layering paints to create large monochromatic close-up portraits. In Koiichiro’s portraits, the eyes become the focal point, reflecting the characters’ inner worlds. His work has been compared to that of Yoshitomo Nara’s and the world of Xiaogang.

“You’re one person, but you’re not alone,” he explained. “There’s an infinite number of expressions you can show. You exist not only in me but in many people’s minds. I am only guided by the materials and the power of the times; I don’t know anything until the moment the painting is completed.”

The “Five-Artist” show is displayed concurrently with a four-artist group show, “The Fourth Wall,” featuring new works from Irish oil painter Chloe Early, UK-based mixed-media artist HUSH, UK-based mixed-media artist Ian Francis and Indonesian artist Laksamana Ryo, known as RYOL, in the Main Gallery. The gallery’s next show will open on Saturday, Aug. 26, featuring the work of Canadian painter and illustrator Camilla d’Errico.

“This is a show that you have to see in person. With sculptures, you need the visceral connection to the work,” Trahan explained. “It’s hard to get that when looking at it on a screen.”

Corey Helford Gallery

571 S Anderson Street, Suite 1, Los Angeles

310-287-2340, coreyhelfordgallery.com

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