Downtown Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) is excited to announce their next major group show collaboration, Kirbyvision: A Tribute to Jack Kirby, in partnership with the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center. Set to debut on Saturday, June 29th and be on view through August 3rd, this exclusive event will feature new and original, one of a kind artwork — inspired by one of the most influential and prolific creators in the history of comics — from over 70 of the top artists in the New Contemporary art scene, as well as original artworks by Kirby.
Celebrating Kirby’s artwork and his profound influence on comics, art, and popular culture, this spectacular exhibition will feature new works by Anthony Sunter of Kai & Sunny, Atta Boy, Bruce Simon, Camilla d’Errico, Eric Joyner, Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Jason Shawn Alexander, Jim Mahfood, Lamour Supreme, Luke Chueh, Martin Meunier, Michael Avon Oeming, Paul Frank, Patrick McDonnell, Richard Ahnert, Simone Legno of Tokidoki, Skinner, The London Police, and many more.
Kirby is widely recognized as one of the most influential and prolific creators in the history of comics. He created, or co-created, such enduring characters as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, the Hulk, Darkseid and the New Gods, and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of the medium. But even this doesn’t fully encompass the scope of Kirby’s contributions to pop culture at large.
Throughout his half-century career, Kirby stretched the boundaries of comic art and storytelling with his innovative style. His storytelling is characterized by wild physicality that draws the reader’s eye from panel to panel, breathing life into static images in a way that few comic artists ever have. His use of multi-layered “deep space” was integral to this as well as extreme anatomical foreshortening. Stylistic hallmarks such as his trademark “Kirby Krackle” have become the industry shorthand for strange, indescribable cosmic energies. Kirby’s squiggles, whether indicating metallic shine, futuristic and alien machinery/circuitry, or dynamic musculature, are enshrined in the comic book visual storytelling vocabulary. His later intricate costume designs also invoke a cosmic comic book quintessence: Kirby headgear is a genre unto itself. Kirby machines are unlike any others, whether weapons, portals, or vehicles, they all draw in the eye and electrocute the viewing mind with their sublime technology.
Kirby’s artworks are as powerful today as the day they were created, and his influence lives on, as seen in the remarkable new works created for this very special exhibition. CHG’s co-owner, Bruce Helford, shares: “While I was raised to appreciate Modern Art, its always been my dream, as a comic collector, to have a show with Jack Kirby. And now I have one and I hope it inspires everyone else the way it inspired me. His work is thrilling, dynamic, fun and if it doesn’t make you want to burst into flames, or stretch your arm around the block or surf the stars, then I don’t know what will.”
Open to the public and free of charge, Kirbyvision: A Tribute to Jack Kirby is set to debut on Saturday, June 29th from 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm in the Main Gallery, alongside original artworks by Jack Kirby in Gallery 3 and a solo show by Canadian illustrator and designer Bennett Slater, titled YONDER!, in Gallery 2. Both shows will be on view through August 3rd.
About Jack Kirby:
Jack Kirby (1917-1994) was more than just a comic book artist: he was a storyteller, an innovator, and a visionary. His early work with Joe Simon on Captain America in the early 1940s saw characters breaking panel borders and narrative conventions as they fought across the pages. As superheroes fell out of favor for a period after World War II, he and Simon helped revitalize the industry with work on crime, war, sci-fi, and monster comics, while inventing the romance comic genre. By the time Kirby was doing what became his most famous and enduring work at Marvel in the 1960s, he was a seasoned veteran, yet only just coming into the full power of his creativity.
From the earliest Fantastic Four and Thor stories, Kirby crafted an entire industry that now fuels billion dollar blockbuster movies and prestige TV shows. In a few short years, Kirby populated the Marvel Universe with an unforgettable array of characters, such as pop culture icons the Avengers, X-Men, and more. From the relatively tame early stories with those characters, Kirby’s superhero epics quickly became increasingly cosmic, mind-expanding, and ambitious in their scope.
Kirby’s prolific but strained working relationship/partnership with Stan Lee couldn’t fully satisfy his overabundance of storytelling ideas, and he left Marvel in 1970 for chief competitor DC Comics, where he served as writer, artist, and editor on his own line of books, creating an entirely new cosmology that remains a cornerstone of that company’s storytelling, over 50 years after he left the very titles he founded. Biblical in tone and mythical in scope, Kirby’s 1970s output remains some of the most startlingly ambitious work ever put on display in mainstream superhero comics. His ideas and storytelling techniques continue to inform virtually everyone who puts pencil to paper in the industry.
Kirby’s stories look for the best, most universal qualities of the human experience, even as the characters themselves reach beyond the cosmos. If there were a Mt. Rushmore of 20th century pop culture storytelling, Kirby should be etched alongside fellow visionaries like George Lucas, Gene Roddenberry, and Steven Spielberg.
About Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center:
The Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center is organized exclusively for educational purposes; more specifically, to promote and encourage the study, understanding, preservation, and appreciation of the work of Jack Kirby. They are committed to illustrating the scope of Kirby’s multi-faceted career, communicating the stories, inspirations, and influences of Jack Kirby, celebrating the life of Jack Kirby and his creations, and building an understanding of comic books and comic book creators. To this end, the Museum sponsors and otherwise supports study, teaching, conferences, discussion groups, exhibitions, displays, publications, and cinematic, theatrical, and multimedia productions. For more info, visit KirbyMuseum.org.
About Corey Helford Gallery:
Established in 2006 by Jan Corey Helford and her husband, television producer/creator Bruce Helford (The Conners, Lopez vs. Lopez, 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 (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. For more information, visit CoreyHelfordGallery.com and follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. For available prints from CHG, visit CHGPrints.com.
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