Eric Joyner's  "Hello Topiary," above, is not (excuse the pun) a garden-variety landscape. The oil-on-wood painting, which depicts a robot gardener shaping hedges into Hello Kitty and other designs from the Japanese character factory Sanrio, goes on display at "Small Gift Los Angeles" from Nov. 12 to 21 at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Sanrio, the event will include food trucks, miniature golf and a pop-up shop. The main draw is an art exhibition with nearly a dozen installation rooms and about 100 pieces by the likes of Paul Frank and Gary Baseman. For crafty types, the Japanese artist Naoshi will be teaching a workshop in how to render Hello Kitty with colored sand.

All of the works feature Sanrio characters and were created for this show.The results are sweet and, in the case of Nouar's acrylic-on-maple-panel "Hello Chicken Dinner," right, surreal.

Nouar's work is $1,200. Joyner's topiary painting is $9,800. Others works start at $200.

The show raises a question as simple as its subject matter: Why?

Most of the participating California-based artists feel a kinship with what show curator Jamie Rivandeneira called the "cute culture community." It is fueled by childhood nostalgia and has a positivity that remains undiminished in an increasingly complicated world.

In Hello Kitty, she added, artists find a muse who is also a blank canvas. 

"She doesn't have any emotions,"  Rivandeneira said. "You can project anything onto her." 

Even, it seems, a coating of Shake 'N Bake. Is that original recipe or extra crispy? Keep reading for more Sanrio-themed works ...

 
In a spell-check-challenged exhibition titled "You ... Go, Girlz!" Ramon Delgado-Maynes, owner of the L.A. vintage design store Material Environment, celebrates contemporary female artists and furniture designers including decorator Kelly Wearstler, fashionista Linda Loudermilk  and sculptor Karin Swildens. The show runs through Nov. 21 at 7466 Beverly Blvd.

The big discovery: Betty Cobonpue, right, a Philippines-based designer who in the 1980s created a line of furniture called Scultura. The collection included the bedroom ensemble above. The pieces are superbly crafted with prices that reflect their rarity: A dresser with ribbon detailing that twists and curls to form pulls on the six drawers is $2,850. The matching side tables are $2,450 for the pair. The lamps, which sit on flared marble tables, are $1,400 for the pair.

Looking at them? Free.  

Delgado-Manes discovered these unusual items at an estate sale of a Filipina homeowner in Agoura Hills who had commissioned a suite of furniture from Cobonpue.

"At face value, the unique fantasy beauty of the pieces was enough," Delgado-Manes said. "Discovering her philosophy surrounding this articulated yet organic design inspired this show."

Cobonpue has described her design sensibility with a simple mantra: "No hard edges." In her work, lines flow smoothly through the entire piece. She often includes decorative embellishments such as leaf patterns and scalloped edges. Unlike contemporary furniture that is woven, Cobonpue's furniture is made from thin pieces of rattan vine, meticulously cut, heated and wet-bent over wooden forms.

"This method makes them very strong, not wobbly like most furniture made of the same materials," Delgado-Manes said. Her ability to maintain a consistent finish is "mesmerizing."

Though she has retired, Cobonpue passed her skills and sensibility to her son, Kenneth Cobonpue, who sells equally innovative contemporary furniture at Twentieth. Keep reading to see more of Betty Cobonpue's designs ...