With an incredibly jovial flair, FriendsWithYou introduces us Japanese animation-style forms yet with an indelibly soft, taffy material with the mirthful exuberance with nevertheless ludicrously playful context at The Pit LA. It is in the plastine clay where the artworks are really resounding and are markedly different than pencil-lined and ink-drawn anime.

FriendsWithYou, The Sacred Knitting of the Gods, 2023, Plastiline clay in wooden frame with plexi lid, 40 x 45 in. Courtesy of FriendsWithYou and Pit-LA.

Indeed, it would be rude to consider this as reliant on anime, though no doubt we cannot help but find similarities to a universe populated with Hello Kitties. It is in tis implicit gesture of saccharine branding which is immediately toyed with in the works of, say, The Sacred Knitting of the Gods (40”x45”) and The Killing of a Demon (40”x45”). The innocent, childish forms are immediately interrupted with the somber seriousness of reverence. The frowns provide a cupidity which elevates the harsh reality of needing to act justly where evil is concerned. To have such puttiness form an anthropomorphic tree introduces to us a measure of absurd cheekiness of evil occurring in such pure fantasy at all. Anarchy, this is not. A well-regulated community this is.

FriendsWithYou, The Killing of a Demon, 2023, Plastiline clay in wooden frame with plexi lid, 40 x 45 in. Courtesy of FriendsWithYou and Pit-LA.

The same can be said with the willfully hilarious reverie toward a binary knitting of a scarf amidst a world of candy-colored rainbows and lively flower pots in The Sacred Knitting of the Gods. The irreverent humor is further plastered with Cozy Time.

FriendsWithYou, Cozy Time, 2023, Plastiline clay in wooden frame with plexi lid, 40 x 45 in. Courtesy of FriendsWithYou and Pit-LA.

It is an innocent daring to introduce innuendo without it being ham-fisted nor slap-sticked upon the eye. The fun is in the teleportation to an imaginary world where such characters reside, one where our imaginations can envision a darker side to imagination land, where Hello Kitty is secretly a tart. Such “blasphemy” in suggestion is masked by the smooth yet materially coarse clay and its reflectance of the light. We do not have an embellishment of polish, but instead the more appropriate thickness in substance which adds weight to the human-styled gestures, giving our imagination more room to play with the ideas presented as good to experience.