On Saturday, July 15, Downtown Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) will proudly unveil “Stranger Than Earth,” the new solo exhibition from internationally-exhibiting pop surrealist Redd Walitzki, in Gallery 3.
“Stranger Than Earth” is a requiem to an Earth transformed by climate change; there is no going back to the world we used to know, but perhaps we can create a new world full of alien beauty. The explorers depicted in these paintings are a reflection of their environment, both unknowable and also entering into unknown spaces. In these delicate mixed media paintings, Redd combines the romanticism of high-fashion with a science fiction edge. Atoms are dancing, hearts are breaking, and we dissolve into endless fields of flowers.
Each piece in this series contained an epic journey in its creation. Redd traveled to locations awe-inspiring in their natural wonder, but also reshaped by humans, to capture the initial reference imagery. The resulting paintings depict the balance of a world which is transforming while it also transforms us. The emotional arc of this body of work also mirrors this transformation in a very personal way. Redd began the series with a sense of hope and optimism, but at the end of 2016 her personal life fell apart, just as the outside world was in a state of turmoil and upheaval. She battled through this hopelessness to grasp a new sense of adventure and beauty; re-centering in her art and pushing through boundaries, which led to an internal transformation reflected in the overall arc and scale of these pieces.
Redd uses a mixed-media process that combines watercolor under-paintings with highly detailed layers of oil-glazes, on custom designed laser cut panels. Experimentation with materials and use of technology plays a prominent role in her work.
The opening reception for “Stranger Than Earth” will be hosted Saturday, July 15 from 6-11pm in Gallery 3 at Corey Helford Gallery. The reception is open to the public and on view through August 12.
About Redd Walitzki:
Redd Walitzki is a Seattle-based contemporary artist, originally from Burghausen, Germany. She creates detailed mixed-media paintings by combining watercolor, acrylic and oil glazes on laser cut canvases, influenced by the rococo ornamentation of her native Bavaria. The paintings are primarily figurative, most often depicting the female form and detailed natural elements. They focus on the balance between the inevitable entropy of nature, and the unattainable beauty invented through high fashion and technology. Redd’s passion is for advancing the creative process through experimentation, with combinations of artistic media and burning things with lasers! Her earliest memories are of painting at the kitchen table with her Grandfather, pulling flowers and foxes out of the bright splashes of pigment. This led her to pursue a career as an artist, and Redd completed her B.F.A. from Cornish College of the Arts with a concentration in Painting. These days Redd can be found in her studio working to science podcasts, playing with her pet opossum & raising various moths and mantises, or chasing down the next strange adventure on her scooter.
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 sq. ft. building in Downtown Los Angeles, seven times larger than its original space, 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 sq. ft., providing total immersion for its attendees. New exhibitions are presented approximately every four weeks. For more info and an upcoming exhibition schedule, visit www.CoreyHelfordGallery.com
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