LA artist Buff Monster unveiled his newest collection of work for the opening of Heavy Metal Ice Cream Smile @ Corey Helford Gallery on Saturday (9.5).  Fans and collectors familiar with Buff Monster’s work will notice that the twenty-one new pieces represent a stylistic evolution featuring an emphasis on geometric patterns, trippy landscapes, and a revised, more colorful palette.  The title itself also clues us into the new show which merges the happy, cheerful world featured in the majority of his past work with the darker, demon-filled word of his last few shows.

For the opening, Buff Monster and Corey Helford unveiled a wild installation piece – a towering custom ice cream balloon with a cherry on top, of course.  By the large crowd that filtered into the gallery to enjoy the new art and the free ice cream from the yellow truck, one would have never guessed this was in fact a long holiday weekend.

As you check out the photos of  the work, note the visual narrative of light and darkness featuring Buff Monster’s ‘Skull Camo’ ooze that flows out of his satanic creatures and literally clouds the skies of  candy-colored euphoric landscapes.  Also notable, is the increased use of lettering and slogans – both in the Kanji seen in recent exhibitions as well as English.

Heavy Metal Ice Cream Smile marks a definite progression for Buff Monster and is his best show to date.

Corey Helford Gallery
8522 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310.287.2340

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Last Friday Dailydujour presented a live video interview on DDTV with Buff Monster and host Eileen Lei.   We’re happy to bring you the full in-depth interview which focuses on Buff Monster’s new show, Heavy Metal Ice Cream Smile, which opened last night @ Corey Helford Gallery.  Process, themes, stylistic goals – it’s in there. 

Corey Helford Gallery
8522 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310.287.2340

The next episode of Dailydujour TV (ddtv) will feature a LIVE interview with Buff Monster this Friday, September 4th @ 1:30 PM PDT on location from Corey Helford Gallery.  We’ll be talking to him about his art in general and his Heavy Metal Ice Cream Smile solo which opens this Saturday.  As is our tradition, we’ll also take questions directly from the chat room.  If you’d like you can also post questions as comments on this post. And on Friday @ 1:30 be sure to watch over at DDTV.

Corey Helford Gallery
8522 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310.287.2340

We recently had the pleasure of visiting Buff Monster’s studio as he prepared for his Heavy Metal Ice Cream Smile solo which opens on Saturday, September 5th (7-10 PM) @ Corey Helford Gallery.  During our visit we watched Buff working on one of his paintings for the show (20 in all) and also learned more about his meticulous process.  Whether he’s painting one of his signature Buff Monster characters, a skull or a Ripper, Buff is obsessed with clean, flat, sharp execution leaving nothing to stand between the viewer and image. This often entails time-consuming detail work such as painting the chain worn by a character in one of his pieces.

Most of his paintings begin either on the computer in Illustrator which is then output to paper which he cuts out.  Alternatively, he sketches on a paper outline.  This intermediate step helps in visualization and the initial layout of the painting on board.  Shots of these paper outlines, a look at the initial stage of applying a background texture, and a new painting reveal can be found after the jump.

In addition to the paintings, the  show will also a feature an installation currently shrouded in mystery.  To bring you greater insight into his latest solo we’ll be presenting a live video interview with Buff Monster prior to the opening. More details shortly.

Corey Helford Gallery
8522 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310.287.2340

More Images + Info »