Corey Helford Gallery is proud to present the highly-anticipated solo exhibition of new works by celebrated Pop-artist Coop. Since 2006, Los Angeles has been on the waiting list for Coop’s next explosion of larger-than-life pop iconography, and his upcoming solo show of irreverent and outrageous fi ne art is built for speed. Bold and brazen does not begin to describe the parade of leering devils, voluptuous vixens, and hell-bound hot rods that dominate his electric acrylic-on-canvas paintings. Considered one of the pioneers of the Contemporary New Fine Art movement, Coop steps out from his arsenal of sin to unveil the next phase in his evolving creations of neo-Pop imagery. The reception is open to the public, and will take place on Friday, May 29 from 7 to 10pm. The show will be on view until June 20, 2009.
Born in Bixby, Oklahoma, Chris Cooper, AKA Coop, began his art career at the tender age of two, with crayons in hand. Shortly after the ink was dry on his high school diploma, he left his home state for Los Angeles where he landed his first solo exhibition in 1993 at La Luz de Jesus Gallery. Since then, Coop has been steadily taking over the art world, exhibition after exhibition, and his paintings have been showcased around the world from Merry Karnowsky in Los Angeles, Deitch Projects in New York and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston to galleries in Zurich and Milan.
Inspired by hot rodding, car culture, B-movie monsters, sexploitation fl icks and the world of fetish, Coop parleyed his artistic talent into a merchandising empire, creating custom collections of fi ne art prints, rock and roll posters, artist-series apparel, lifestyle accessories, skateboards and toys. Coop released The Devil’s Advocate, a full-color coffee table book, which was an immediate sellout and is currently in its fourth printing.
Following the success of his first release, Coop’s second book, The Big Fat One is a 1008-page sketchbook and was published in October, 2002.
Coop’s commissioned work is equally as spectacular. He has produced over 100 posters, including rock posters for Nirvana, Soundgarden, The Sex Pistols and album cover art for notable bands such as Mono Men, Lords of Acid, Ramones and NOFX. Altoids commissioned him to create promotional artwork for its wildly successful cinnamon fl avored mints, and MTV featured the artist’s imagery on its The Return of Rock compilations. Coop’s commercial talent extends to a multitude of creative projects, including a series of limited-edition gambling chips and a customized Escalade for the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, as well as directing music videos and designing major ad campaigns for various clients. Numerous publications have featured Coop, including ArtWeek, Paper and Juxtapoz magazine, which notes Coop’s name is “now more recognizable to modern youth than that of Rembrandt.” For more information about the artist, please visit www.coopstuff.com.
Located in the Culver City Art District, Corey Helford Gallery was established in April 2006 by Jan Corey Helford and her husband, television producer and creator, Bruce Helford (The Drew Carey Show, George Lopez, The Oblongs). Passionate art collectors, the Helfords are producers on the art documentary The Treasures of Long Gone John and have partnered to open their fi rst gallery. Corey Helford Gallery presents a wide range of artists, from members of the new fine art movement, such as Gary Baseman, Andrew Brandou, Coop, Natalia Fabia, Korin Faught, Sylvia Ji, Eric Joyner, and award-winning photographer Chris Anthony, to early Modernist William S. Schwartz. Notable shows include “Charity By Numbers”, which was co-curated by Gary Baseman and featured an unprecedented lineup of artists including Mark Ryden, Marion Peck, Shepard Fairey, Todd and Kathy Schorr, Camille Rose Garcia, and Michael Hussar. Corey Helford Gallery presents new exhibitions approximately every four weeks. For more information and an upcoming exhibition schedule, please visit coreyhelfordgallery.com.
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