Trav

Los Angeles-based contemporary artist Trav’s first solo exhibition in Japan will be held. We will feature approximately 20 new pieces, including a large-scale painting from his “Typo-Architecture” series, which merges vintage signage and graffiti typography with architectural structures.

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MEGUMI OGITA GALLERY is pleased to present Trav’s solo exhibition “TYPO-ARCHITECTURE”. Trav is a contemporary artist hailing from California and based in Los Angeles, also known as a member of Mad Society Kings Artist Collective. Drawn to graffiti as an escape from social norms during childhood visits to Los Angeles, he transitioned from street activities to murals, eventually elevating his personal narrative into works critiquing consumerism and centralized digital transformation. Navigating both street culture and the established art world, Trav explores themes of rebellion, resilience, and transformation drawn from his raw personal history, expressing the freedom found within a life propelled by creativity. Alongside this, he contributes to society through large-scale public works. Trav’s playful style, conscious of human and community connections, has gained a broad fanbase and led to cross-disciplinary collaborations.

Trav’s “Typo-Architecture” is a bold series of paintings that fuses graffiti, originating from tags on walls and trains, with the architecture that serves as its support, proving his philosophy that values authenticity. Paying homage to the signage of the cultural golden age of the 1950s and 60s, he collages his own typography onto the canvas, arranging it to harmonize with geometric patterns, all rendered in acrylic paint. The ceaseless flux of people in motion, buildings demolished and rebuilt, graffiti erased or overpainted, shifting public interests – these perpetual changes are the city’s destiny, aligning with the essence of Trav’s work. Meanwhile, the works possess an appeal as independent paintings, featuring skillful compositions capturing three-dimensional space and the accent colors inspired by neon signs, impressing upon the viewer the aesthetic sensibility he has cultivated.

This exhibition, Trav’s first solo show in Japan, will feature one large-scale painting made in Osaka alongside approximately 20 new pieces from Typo-Architecture series.

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My work explores the tension between physical space and the digital world, with a long-standing focus on retail, signage, and the built environment as sites of community and identity. Growing up before the internet centralized daily life, storefronts and streets functioned as social markers—places where culture was formed in public, not on screens.

That early relationship with physical space, combined with witnessing the erosion of handmade craft through digital production, continues to shape my practice. During my recent time in Japan, I was struck by how alive and layered the retail landscape felt—reinforcing what is lost when physical worlds disappear.

The works in this exhibition are built through digital collage, using fragments of real signage, typography, and architecture to form what Megumi describes as “typo-architecture.” Together, they explore how place shapes behavior, memory, and community—and why preserving physical culture still matters.

–Trav

Dates

January 23-February 14, 2026

Noon-6pm

Closed on Sunday, Monday and February 11

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Opening Reception

January 23, 6-8pm

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MEGUMI OGITA GALLERY
B1, 8-14-9 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061, Japan
+81-3-3248-3405
info@megumiogita.com