Gary Baseman
Michael Sowa
Pow Martinez
Yoshimasa Tsuchiya
Dreamland
A group exhibition featuring artists, who symbolically depict creatures inhabiting imagination or realms branching off from everyday life, will be held. We invite viewers into the artists’ inner worlds through the exhibition of figurative paintings and sculptures.
MEGUMI OGITA GALLERY is pleased to present the group exhibition “Dreamland”. In this exhibition, visitors can immerse themselves in the works of artists who unfold their unique narratives, and interpret the symbolic messages within them. The exhibition features Gary Baseman’s paintings, in which his pet cat and anthropomorphized soft toys coexist; Michael Sowa’s surreal illustrations, which shine with a playful spirit in everyday life; Pow Martinez’s paintings, which depict the emotions in the modern world via another reality with striking colors and composition; Yoshimasa Tsuchiya’s wood carving of a mythical creature. Reflecting the artists’ inner landscapes, these works create a contrast with the actual world by incorporating their subjectivity, experience, memory, and a sense of resistance at times, thereby constructing diverse realms unbound by existing conventions. We invite you to enjoy this exhibition, where imagination and reality ingeniously intertwine.
Dates
May 28–June 6, 2026
Noon–6pm (Noon–9pm on May 29)
Closed on Sunday and Monday
MEGUMI OGITA GALLERY
B1, 8-14-9 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061, Japan
+81-3-3248-3405
info@megumiogita.com
Gary Baseman
Disko Fever
2023
91.4 x 121.9 cm
Acrylic on canvas (framed)
Disko Fever shows Disko the bunny surrounded by friends in a land of abundant mushrooms. The artist suggests mind expansion, like when losing oneself in music, and enjoying the company of friends. Featured in many classic children’s tales, mushrooms represent the magic and mystery found in the woods. The painting also references Baseman’s recent reconnection with nature and the outside world.
Gary Baseman is an interdisciplinary artist who investigates history, heritage, and the human condition (especially love, longing, and loss). Through unique iconography and fantastical visual narratives that celebrate “the beauty of the bittersweetness of life,” his work brings together the worlds of popular culture and fine art. Baseman (b. 1960) was born and raised in Los Angeles, California when lifestyles dramatically shifted and politics and popular culture seeped into the home. Baseman transforms everyday observations and experiences into art that includes drawing, painting, photography, video, installation art, performance, as well as fashion, toy design and social media. Throughout his long career, Baseman’s works have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world; his solo exhibition “Memento Moa” (2023) was held at The Suter Art Gallery in New Zealand—an institution with a history spanning over 120 years—captivating new fans.
Michael Sowa
Illustration for........
2018
17.5 x 33 cm
Acrylic on paper (framed)
Michael Sowa is a painter and illustrator born in Berlin, Germany, in 1945. After launching his career as a painter in 1992, Sowa cemented his reputation by creating the paintings and lamps featured in the film “Amélie” (2001), directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. His humorous point of view and meticulous style, which seem to bring together multiple elements within a single painting, have gained audiences worldwide, and he has become one of the well-known artists in Japan through picture book illustrations. Regarding the characteristics of Sowa’s work, the painter Masao Aoki states: “His main motifs include waves, light, forests and animals; with regard to light in particular, detailed planning is undertaken to heighten the imagery. He symbolically anthropomorphizes them by slightly exaggerating the expressions and movements of the figures in his paintings, conveying a message from a satirical perspective and maximizing the imagery through the viewer’s imagination.” (Masao Aoki, “The Worldview of Michael Sowa”).
Pow Martinez
Space Junk
2025
91.4 x 91.4 cm
Acrylic on canvas
Floating heads in Space, a psychedelic dream sequence or symbolism of planets, Fear of outer space.
Pow Martinez (b. 1983, Manila, Philippines; lives and works in Manila) is a Filipino artist known for his expressionistic style of painting, blending bold colors with demonic, mutant-like characters to create compelling canvases. Martinez studied Visual Communications at the University of the Philippines and Painting at Kalayaan College. He is a recipient of the 2010 Ateneo Art Award for his exhibition 1 Billion Years at West Gallery, Philippines. He exhibits internationally and has worked with different media, from painting to sound. Martinez is also active as a noise musician under the stage name Sewage Worker. His recent exhibitions include Mental Door at MEGUMI OGITA GALLERY in Tokyo (2025), Junk DNA at Silverlens New York; City Prince/sses at Palais de Tokyo in Paris; 50 Years in Hollywood at Pinto Art Museum in New York; Art Basel Hong Kong 2019 with Silverlens; WXXX, West Gallery, Manila. Often resembling a beautiful nightmare, Martinez’s paintings combine the mundanities of everyday life with elements of pop culture, resulting in darkly humorous works depicting society’s overconsumption.