The Work of Junko Mizuno, Mayuka Yamamoto, and Travis Lampe
The group show opens Saturday, February 23 from 7pm - 11pm in Gallery 2. The reception is open to the public and the exhibit will be on view through Saturday, March 30. The space is open Tuesday - Saturday, 12pm - 6pm. Corey Helford Gallery is located at 571 S. Anderson St. Los Angeles, CA 90033. About Junko Mizuno: Having grown up in Tokyo, Mizuno is a self-taught artist recognized for her unique visual iconography of powerful and often sexy women. Although her art refuses to be categorized, much of it is based on Japanese pop culture from the '70s and '80s, with the source of her inspiration stemming from fetish art, folk art, religious art, psychedelic art, pin-up art, advertising art, vintage toys, fashion, comic, food, nature, movies, TV shows, video games…almost everything that surrounds her. Currently residing in San Francisco, she’s constantly working on new comics, paintings, illustrations, and product designs ranging from toy figures to T-shirts. Her work has been featured in stores, museums, and fine art galleries around the world. About Mayuka Yamamoto:Born in 1964 in Okayama, Japan, Yamamoto received her master’s degree at Tokyo’s Masashino Art University in 1990 and joined the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artist to continue her studies in London until 1999. Her works have been shown in several solo shows held by Japan’s Gallery Tsubaki and her 2007 solo show, titled Deer Boy and Other infants, was hosted by Canvas International Arts gallery in Amsterdam. She also participated in group shows at the Korean International Art Fair (2004–2007) and Young Japanese Painting (2007, Amsterdam). Yamamoto is known for her oil paintings portraying children in animal suits or possessing animal features, to reveal their inner world. Like a protective armor in response to their emotions and psychological state, they seem to instinctively hide behind a second skin in the form of animal costumes or some other defensive physical animalistic features. In some of the pieces, Yamamoto paints settings inspired by nature, further enhancing the contemplative space into which the subject seems to find solace in the dreamlike natural habitat. About Travis Lampe: Lampe grew up in a small town in Kansas. After earning a degree in Graphic Design, he took a job in advertising as an art director in Chicago. While making ads for breakfast cereals and well-known purveyors of inexpensive furniture over a period of several years, he secretly began “developing his illustration style,” which is not the same thing as “procrastinating.” Finally, when he felt the world was ready, he began his slow explosion onto the art and illustration scene, as it were. He currently lives and works in Chicago.
