Photo courtesy. Oscar Oiwa, _Dreams of a Sleeping World,_ installation view, 2019
Under the guidance of new director, Bethany Montagano, the USC Pacific Asia Museum launches their contemporary initiatives for 2020 with their first exhibit of the decade entitled _Oscar Oiwa: Dreams of a Sleeping World_. The Japanese New York-based artist is known for his use of the fantastical elements to comment on our ever changing environment at risk. USC PAM Curator, Dr. Rebecca Hall says, "Oiwa’s dreamscape will transform our auditorium into a transcendental space where visitors can contemplate the chaos of the exterior world and all its intricacies and find peace in the inner.”
Photo courtesy. Oscar Oiwa, _Dreams of a Sleeping World,_ installation view, 2019
PAM will be home to Oiwa’s large-scale landscape paintings and a 360-degree dome mural that will immerse guests into an otherworldly dreamscape of swirling skies and natural landforms. The 800 square feet hand drawn mural used approximately 120 Sharpie permanent makers and acrylic paint to create the expansive grayscale installation. Contrasting the mural, surreal landscape paintings will rest around the monochrome dome, where Oiwa’s use of the surreal defies the laws of physics in order to create an allegory of existential threats to the world.
Photo courtesy. Oscar Oiwa, _Light Shop,_ 2018, oil on canvas, 70 x 54 inches.
* * *
Oscar Oiwa: Dreams of a Sleeping World is currently on view until April 26, 2020 | USC Pacific Asia Museum 46 North Los Robles Avenue Pasadena, CA 91101
.jpeg)
