This recent body of work is an expansion of the overarching narrative of Jien's mythology within the context of his previous two exhibitions with the gallery. The drawings in the show push the storyline forward, while at the same time shed light onto the origins and backgrounds of certain characters. Dots that connect with other dots that reveal more dots within Jien's meta-verse. As with Jien's previous work, the drawings are delicately and meticulously rendered with color pencils and graphite. And while not a completely new idea to his practice, Jien has continued his exploration of collaging cut-outs of his drawings (as in Nabemono above). Holographic film, silver/gold leafing is used in others (as in Tomorrow Comes Today). About the artist: Born 1981, Los Angeles, CA Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA Jien grew up in Los Angeles, immersed in his own world of Nintendo, Legos, puzzle toys and manga. Obsessed with drawing animals and monsters as a child, he later transferred that passion to graffiti, and spent many years bending, melting and transforming letter forms upon the walls of the city. After the graffiti lifestyle turned "complicated," he enrolled at Art Center College of Design, graduating in 2009 with a BFA in Illustration. He initially focused on graphite drawings of metamorphosis, alphabets, rubbery forms, alien biology and geometric Psychedelia, establishing the setting of his narrative landscape and evolving his own folklore about the dawn of time, when mythological beings still walked amongst men. Jien's exhibition, Time Will Tell, was at the Tarble Arts Center, Charleston, IL, in 2018. Jien's work is in the permanent collection of Colección SOLO, Puerta de Alcalá, Madrid. This is Jien's third exhibition with Richard Heller Gallery.