This year marks the 45th anniversary of Hello Kitty®! To celebrate, the Corey Helford Gallery (in partnership with Sanrio®, a parent company of Hello Kitty®) in Downtown Los Angeles held the Hello Kitty 45th Anniversary Group Show! There were 100 artists from all over the world, which gives a look into how Sanrio has influenced pop culture. Nerd News Social hit up the event on opening night and we wanted to share some photos and insight!
An official statement from the Corey Helford Gallery:
Created in 1974 to inspire happiness, Hello Kitty has grown to embody the values of Japanese cultures through showing kindness, respect and the true meaning of friendship. Over the years, she has captured the imagination of people around the world and today appears on a broad range of products and experiences that appeal to her legions of fans and is the subject of countless brand collaborations and artistic explorations.
The artists featured in this exhibition have re-interpreted the iconic image of Hello Kitty and her friends in their own aesthetic through a wide variety of mediums including painting, sculpture and animation. The launch event on June 29 is open to the public and to Hello Kitty fans of all ages. Attendees will enjoy special surprises on opening night including available prints of select 45th anniversary artwork and appearances by Hello Kitty.
To get into the show at opening time, there was a line around the block! And I can see why, this show had more of my favorite artists in one place than any other show I’ve ever been to. The line up, was perfect! There was a great DJ and in the first few hours, there was Hello Kitty there to take photos with! But almost as amazing as the artwork itself, was the people dressed up in their most excellent Hello Kitty type of outfits. Some looked totally out of this world.
So many originals were sold opening night at the event, prices ranging from $1,000 to $25,000! But there was also an option of select signed limited edition artist prints (above) that were sold exclusively at the gallery on a first come, first serve basis on opening night. Some of the prints were from Camilla d’Errico (we did an interview with here which you can read HERE), Tara McPherson, Buff Monster, Hikari Shimoda, Mayuka Yamamoto, and Brandi Milne. If there are still available prints after the opening, you can email sarah@coreyhelfordgallery.com to answer the requests in the order in which they are received. So hop to it!
Here are a few fun facts about Hello Kitty:
- Hello Kitty is not a cat. She’s a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two legged creature.
- She made her debut in 1974.
- She became available in the states in 1976.
- Her birthday is November 1st, making her a Scorpio.
- Hello Kitty is in fact British.
- Her full name is actually “Kitty White.”
- Hello Kitty has no mouth, she “speaks from her heart. She’s Sanrio’s ambassador to the world and isn’t bound to any particular language.”
- Her blood type is A.
- Her parents’ names are George and Mary. And she has a twin sister named Mimmy.
- Her height is “five apples” and her weight is “three apples.”
Show runs June 29th – August 3rd, 2019. To view more photos from the event, you can check out Corey Helford Galleries INSTAGRAM.
So whos your favorite Sanrio character? What art pieces are your favorite? Did you attend or will be attending the show? Let us know in the comments!
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