MEDEL GALLERY SHU HIBIYA is pleased to present Okomorikai, a group exhibition curated by the artist neko, running from October 3 to 13, 2026.

Bringing together artists who work with character-based painting, the exhibition unfolds as a freewheeling and chaotic gathering—a space where works appear almost as if the artists have simply come together to exhibit as they please.

In this exhibition, the characters retreat into seclusion, taking the Imperial Hotel—an architectural chrysalis denied the metamorphosis of redevelopment, at the heart of an island nation where economic hardship deepens and a sense of nihilism encroaches—as their cocoon.

Emerging from somewhere beyond our sight and taking deep root in our land, the presence of these characters has connected with cultures across the world, accompanied by spectacular forms of popular entertainment on a global scale.

Perhaps this suggests that, at their core, these motifs embody an irreplaceable form of corporeal presence for many people.

Perhaps they are images of beloved and universal beings brought forth by an earnest faith within this impermanent world.

Who are they? Gods, spirits… perhaps ghosts, extraterrestrials, or inhabitants of another dimension.

Just as the traces of the departed are carried forward into monuments of stone, the inner lives that we imagine and remember sometimes take form in shrines and temples.

In the early autumn of Reiwa 8, beneath this evening’s sacred grounds, the characters will gather around a fire, illuminating one another with the distinct veins of light flowing deep within each of them.

What rises and trembles within such a sanctuary may be a long-lost homeland, buried beneath the rubble of symbols.

A festival that accompanies the metamorphosis of the soul.

This night-time kagura—a ritual of storytelling and devotion that cuts through language and physicality—carries into a new era a beautiful and mysterious order whose use humanity has, perhaps, forgotten.

Like a late-summer sunflower offered at the season of Samhain.

—neko

What, exactly, will emerge from this gathering?

We invite you to come and see for yourself.

The participating artists will remain undisclosed for now. Further information will be revealed gradually through social media and other channels.