In the heart of Los Angeles, CA, Corey Helford Gallery prepared for the unveiling of “Where the Quiet Things Are”, a new solo exhibition by acclaimed Japanese artist Mayuka Yamamoto, opening Friday, October 30th in the Main Gallery. On view through December 5th, the exhibition brings together Mayuka Yamamoto’s evocative oil paintings of children inhabiting animal forms – quiet, enigmatic figures who exist somewhere between innocence and instinct, vulnerability and protection, reality and imagination.
For over the past 30 years, Mayuka has developed a distinctive body of work centered on children whose identities appear to shift between human and animal. Often dressed in animal costumes or marked by animal characteristics, her young protagonists occupy sparse, dreamlike environments where the ordinary rules of reality seem suspended.
“Children appear in my paintings, taking on the forms of animals. As we grow older, we learn to make sense of things, giving words and explanations to what we experience. And yet, I feel that sensations that exist before words, and feelings that cannot quite be put into words, remain somewhere within us.”
– Mayuka Yamamoto
(oil on canvas, 38.25” x 45.25”)
Mayuka Yamamoto
Where the Quiet Things Are
Opening reception: October 30, 2026 | 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Dates: October 30 – December 5, 2026
COREY HELFORD GALLERY
Gallery 3: 571 S. Anderson St. Los Angeles, CA 90033
Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
(310) 287-2340
For more information please email sherri@coreyhelfordgallery.com
Mayuka Yamamoto Where the Quiet Things Are
From press release:
At first glance, the imagery can feel whimsical. Linger with the paintings, however, and something more psychologically complex may begin to emerge. These are not simply children pretending to be animals. They could be interpreted as figures negotiating the fragile space between who we are, how we protect ourselves, and what we are unable – or unwilling – to put into words. It is within this space of ambiguity that Where the Quiet Things Are unfolds. Mayuka’s subjects rarely offer an obvious explanation for their presence. Instead, they appear absorbed in their surroundings, gazing outward with an arresting stillness or retreating inward behind their animal forms. Their costumes become more than playful disguises; they perhaps suggest a second skin, a protective barrier between the vulnerable interior world of the child and everything that exists beyond it.
“This tension between innocence and self-protection appears to become central to Yamamoto’s artistic vocabulary. The animal forms may offer her young protagonists a means of concealing themselves while simultaneously revealing something essential about who they are.”
Their imagined identities can be understood as both armor and expression – a visual manifestation of emotions that may be difficult, or impossible, to articulate through words. The resulting paintings inhabit a space between innocence and unease, tenderness and isolation. There is a deliberate stillness to Mayuka’s compositions. Her paintings do not demand a narrative resolution, instead allowing viewers to remain within the ambiguity of each scene.
With Where the Quiet Things Are, Mayuka continues this exploration of the spaces between the visible and invisible, the spoken and unspoken, and the child we once were and the inner worlds we continue to carry.
Open to the public and free to attend, Where the Quiet Things Are will debut Friday, October 30th, in the Main Gallery at Corey Helford Gallery, alongside solo shows by Ian Francis, titled Intimacy in a Time of Monsters in Gallery 2 and Nicoletta Ceccoli, titled Under My Spell in Gallery 3.
About Mayuka Yamamoto
Mayuka Yamamoto was born in Okayama, Japan. She received her MFA from Musashino Art University. She later lived and worked in the United Kingdom as a recipient of the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists, administered by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. Working primarily in oil painting, Yamamoto is known for her distinctive depictions of children dressed in animal costumes. She has exhibited extensively in Japan and internationally, in cities such as Busan, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, New York, and Los Angeles. Her works are held in a number of public collections, including the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts and Fuchu Art Museum, both in Tokyo.
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About Corey Helford Gallery
Established in 2006 by Jan Corey Helford and her husband, television producer/creator Bruce Helford (The Conners, Lopez vs. Lopez, Anger Management, The Drew Carey Show, and George Lopez), Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) has since evolved into one of the premier galleries of New Contemporary art. Its goal as an institution is to support the growth of artists, from the young and emerging to the well-known and internationally established. CHG represents a diverse collection of international artists, primarily influenced by today’s pop culture and collectively encompassing style genres such as New Figurative Art, Pop Surrealism, Neo Pop, Graffiti, and Street Art.
