Messy Desk's daydreams come to life in explosively colourful solo exhibition

Internationally celebrated artist Messy Desk comes to downtown Los Angeles' Corey Helford Gallery this September with an exhibition populated by the characters and animals of her daydreams.

Written By: Dom Carter

8 September 2022

Hong Kong-based artist Messy Desk, AKA Jane Lee, loves to fill her paintings with intricate worlds. Mountains play with flying cats from outer space, a duck and a dog soar through the sky together, and even planets and volcanoes get in on the fun. It's a cute, colourful, chaotic world that has won the artist multiple awards.

And now, thanks to the Corey Helford Gallery, you can take a trip to these vibrant dreamscapes yourself. That's because, from 17 September, the gallery will celebrate Jane's work with a solo exhibition titled Messy Desk in the Cloudy Wonderland, located in Gallery 3.

Carefully crafted stroke after stroke, Messy Desk's art is both sweet and meaningful. But as well as being high-density explosions of colour, they also tell emotional stories and are not quite as frantic as they first appear. Take a closer look at her paintings, and you will notice charming little stories and hidden treasures just waiting to be discovered.

Speaking about what influenced the paintings in this exhibition, Jane explains: "This series of paintings is inspired by daydreaming. When I daydream, I look into the blue sky or the starry night. I can see my cloudy playground.

"My friends are playing hide and seek. Their little adventures are recorded in my paintings. I wish everyone can feel a similar sense of freedom through my artwork and be relieved from the stress of real life."

Before this exhibition, Jane's mural paintings had been exhibited worldwide to rave reviews, including in China, France, Germany and the UK, to name a few. These images have even received an environmental design award courtesy of Urban Forms in 2015.

Jane and the Corey Helford Gallery are no strangers to one another either. She has contributed to many group shows at CHG, and after featuring in CHG's 5-Artist Exhibit back in May 2021, Messy Desk in Cloudy Wonderland represents her second-ever solo show at the gallery.

Running from 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm in Gallery 3, Jane's work will appear alongside solo shows from Kristen Liu-Wong, entitled Hard Pressed, in Gallery 2, and Ben Frost, entitled Friends in High Places, in the Main Gallery.