On Saturday, February 1st in the Main Gallery, downtown Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) will proudly unveil two solo shows sharing the same title, All my friends know darkness, by trailblazing multidisciplinary artist Hera of Herakut, formerly one-half of the internationally acclaimed graffiti and street art duo from Germany, and Los Angeles-based Asian-American, Hapa painter and muralist Lauren YS.

Hera (aka Jasmin Siddiqui) combines her skills as a graffiti artist, illustrator, poet, and storyteller to create fluid figures with simultaneously elegant and chaotic lines and brushstrokes. Her work is often a statement on the human condition, experiences of childhood, injustice, and social awareness. Says Juxtapoz (10/11/22), “For over a decade…Hera was one part of the successful street and fine art duo, Herakut. Their murals were seen across the world as part of a major generation of street artists who took muralism to new heights and interpretations. Her visual aesthetic, that of powerful women with a hybrid of animals and text made her and her partner, Akut, international names in the movement. Now boldly working just as Hera, her voice in street art is that of a veteran and of individuality. She is a trailblazer…”

Internationally known for elaborate paintings and murals that blend Chinese and local mythology into their work, Lauren YS (they/them) is influenced by multiple stages of focus, both geographically and in practice. Lauren applies their dynamic bouts in academics, literature, illustration, comics, and animation to their role in the urban art sphere as a queer Asian-American femme with a deep passion for visual storytelling. Their signature style of high-chroma design elements interwoven with dynamic portraiture creates lush, florid pictorial portals to visually captivating worlds. From large-scale murals to multi-layered works on canvas, Lauren’s work draws inspiration from queer worlds, non-binary identities, mythology, dreams, psychedelia, animation, cybernetic organisms, travel, nature, human dignity, metaphysical wonderings and their mixed Asian-American heritage.

Regarding their new series of works, Lauren YS shares: “My work for All my friends know darkness includes semi-autobiographical paintings that explore--through varying levels of character play and metaphor--questions of agency, selfhood, and surrender. Drawing from personal experiences with sexuality, kink, heritage, conflict, therapy, trauma, gender and body politics, friendships, family, and dreams, these works present as almost high-chroma filmic stills from an alternate world coming into focus. In a grander sense, they are all meditations on the notion of freedom and the loss of innocence, creating space for nuance within the context of the world as I am coming to know it better”. Lauren shares work-in-progress videos (watch here, here, and here) of new pieces featured in their upcoming show at CHG.

Open to the public and free of charge, All my friends know darkness is set to debut on Saturday, February 1st from 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm in the Main Gallery, alongside a solo show, titled Visions of the Universe, by South Korea-born/Davis, CA-based artist Seongmin Yoo in Gallery 2 and a solo show, titled Costume Obscura, by Canadian artist and illustrator Ryan Heshka in Galllery 3. The exhibitions will be on view at CHG through March 8th.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1981, Hera (aka Jasmin Siddiqui) studied Visual Communication and Graphic Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden. Often a statement on the human condition and experiences of childhood, Hera’s work combines her skills as a graffiti artist, illustrator, poet, and storyteller to create fluid figures with simultaneously elegant and chaotic lines and brushstrokes.

Hera achieved international fame through her 16-year collaboration with fellow German artist Falk Lehmann, which began in 2004 when the two merged their names and styles to collaborate as Herakut ─ Hera (Jasmin) and Akut (Falk). Widely considered the leading German street artist duo during their time together, Herakut exhibited in galleries and art fairs worldwide (including in France, Gaza, Germany, and Jordan, among many others), as well as created over 100 public murals (from Sao Paulo to Moscow, Miami to Kathmandu, and Paris to Melbourne) and published two successful books (2009's The Perfect Merge and 2011's After the Laughter). Plus, Herakut’s live festival showings included Glastonbury (U.K.) and Coachella (U.S.), along with their work making an appearance at the Dalai Lama’s 80th Birthday celebration (U.S.).

Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) hosted Hera’s first major solo show, 2021’s Hera we go again, after three successful solo shows (including 2019’s Of Worriers and Warriors, 2018’s Herakut's Rental asylum, and 2016’s Masters of wrong) and participation in many group exhibitions as a duo at the gallery. In April 2023, CHG hosted Hera’s second major solo show therapy room 2, which included the debut of a special series of hand-painted acrylic sculptures featuring her Superhero Bunny character (watch work-in-progress video) and was accompanied by a collaborative mural painted with artist Lauren YS on the outside wall of the gallery (watch work-in-progress video).

Lauren YS (they/them) is a queer Asian-American femme with a deep passion for visual storytelling. Based in Los Angeles and carrying a B.A. in English and Fine Art from Stanford University, Lauren applies their background in literature to the urban sphere through freestyle muralism. Their signature style of high-chroma design elements interwoven with dynamic portraiture creates lush, florid pictorial portals to visually captivating worlds. Lauren’s work seeks to bring an element of the fantastical and narrative fluidity to the dignity of their characters’ personhoods, with a specific passion for creating space for queer and Biopic stories. From large-scale murals to multi-layered works on canvas, Lauren’s work draws inspiration from queer worlds, fluidity, mythology, dreams, animation, travel, nature, human dignity, and their mixed Asian-American heritage. Lauren’s vision encapsulates the lifetime search for identity, a love of local myth, and the constant pursuit of promoting just futures.

They have exhibited large-scale murals around the globe (including at Yale University, Art Basel Miami, Wynwood Walls, Long Beach Museum of Art, PangeaSeed SeaWalls in New Zealand, and the World Trade Center in New York), as well as shown in galleries in the U.S., Vienna, New York, London, Tokyo, and Melbourne.