Downtown Los Angeles’s Corey Helford Gallery today unveils its next major group exhibition and most whimsical one yet with Fantastical Beasts, featuring over 50 artists from across the globe. Fantastical beasts have captured our imagination throughout history. Creatures like dragons, griffins and unicorns were the cultural ancestors of natural histories, zoos, and Darwin; of My Little Pony and Animal Planet. Some have their origin in traditional mythology and were believed to be real creatures, while others were based on real encounters.

Machine Man Memories is the newest series of fantastical paintings by Joyner, of Robots and Donuts fame. Joyner’s work, which has been licensed from the likes of Disney, Warner Brothers, and the hit HBO show Silicon Valley, depicts the tenuous conflict between children’s toys and adulthood as a portrait of another reality. His work is characterized by his playful and surrealistic style that creates harmony between the mix of cartoon characters, especially Japanese tin robots and colorful donuts (directly inspired by the film Pleasantville) inserted in all kinds of landscapes from the Age of Dinosaurs to the bottom of the ocean.

Participating artist from Italy, Nunzio Paci, shares his inspiration: "I watched Juliet of the Spirits many times. The artwork in the group show reflects my current exploration of the natural world and its connections with the dream sphere, nostalgia and memory, all themes in common with Fellini's oeuvre." Missouri-based artist Lauren Marx sees a connection between her work and Fellini’s artistic eye and cinematography: "I see similarities with the use of religious imagery, earthy imagery, baroque and fantastical themes. I can also see a slight connection between the composition of my piece and some of the beautiful compositions he created.”