Corey Helford Gallery proudly presents their next major solo show, Ephemeral Existence, from Japanese oil painter Mayuka Yamamoto. Widely recognized as one of Japan’s leading second-generation contemporary artists, Yamamoto is known for her oil paintings portraying children in animal suits with enigmatic facial expressions. The artist’s paintings often appear reticent and introspective. The emotions of the child characters in Yamamoto’s works, or “animal boys” as she often calls them, are meant to be a mystery to the viewer. They exude an aura of otherworldly calm and demeanor that belies their true emotional and psychological states, juxtaposed against subtle settings painted in soft, muted color tones.