In Mercedes Helnwein's new series of oil-pastels, Mama Said Amen, the artist's overall grasp of technique remains remarkable, as does her ability to accentuate the oddities of an otherwise simple scene. Each pastel has been invaded by sinister swathes of coral pigment; in some paintings the coral smudges concentrate around her subjects' faces while in others they seem on the brink of triumphing over the figures and objects within.

At first glance these globs of color appear haphazard but with some observation patterns emerge: the smudges often curl around features, circling a dapper businessman's eye while obscuring the other entirely, dripping lugubriously a girl's forehead or enveloping another like bath-water. At times these coral sections follow the contours of a face exactly, and at other times they leaps from bodies like otherworldly flames. This color is not just decorative, it works on the emotions and pushes curiosity to a fever pitch.

Helnwein's pastels do not reveal the origin or meaning of these marks. Combined with her affinity for 50's and 60's vintage style, the works are infused with a classic B-Movie vibe. Her interest in Southern Gothic culture and faith, provides other avenues of interpretation: are these smudges the sins and secrets that hide behind the façade of our individual lives? Are they the mark of the damned, or a sign of the saved? The questions and pervasive sense of mystery are perhaps the most delectable parts of the experience.

Kim Kimbro is an American painter who lives and works in Los Angeles. She received a BFA from the Parsons School of Design in New York, and has been exhibiting since 2007. Animal imagery is a vehicle through which the artist explores the darkest corners of the psyche, and grapples with meaning and emotion in her new series, The Queen of Calvary. For her, they often depict a moment in a dream or dark fairy tale, usually at a point where ruin and resurrection meet. Wild animals being hunted, and the forest in which they live, set the stage for these imaginary situations and ambiguous outcomes.

Vonn Sumner earned both a Bachelor's degree and an M.F.A. in painting from the University of California at Davis. From 2003 - 2009, Sumner co-founded the Los Angeles-based artist collective, Pharmaka, which operated as a non-profit exhibition space in the Historic Bank District of Downtown Los Angeles. The artist's newest exhibition, Gravity and Other Lies, employs humor and absurdity as a rational response to an irrational world. Sumner creates a world that makes its own kind of sense—somewhere between dreaming and consciousness. The palette for this particular body of work was influenced by his last two years he spent living in Seattle. The paintings are informed by the long, dark, grey, wet months of very limited daylight, punctuated by intense moments of color: the lush greens of trees, the whites and yellows of flowers, as well as the pinks and oranges of neon traffic cones.

For more information, please contact Jessica O'Dowd jessica@mkgallery.com / (323) 933-4408