Exhibitions | MAKI Gallery | MAKI

Nagori Yuki, a special exhibition of works by LA-based artist Mungo Thomson, will take place at ISETAN The Stage (ISETAN Shinjuku Store 1F) starting Wednesday, April 14th. Ahead of the exhibition, Thomson’s signature TIME mirrors and Snowman work are currently displayed in ISETAN Shinjuku’s shop windows. Please make sure to check this out as well.

MAKI Gallery has previously held two solo exhibitions—in 2019 and 2020—with Thomson, whose visionary subversion of conventions and preconceptions continues to bring great acclaim. Featured in the ISETAN show is Thomson’s Wall Calendar series, which recreates on a massive scale the phenomenon of a calendar page held up to the sun, its reverse side showing through. For each work, a large piece of cloth is printed on both sides—on the front, an enormous photograph of a mountain; on the back, the dates of a calendar. The cloth is then stretched atop a LED lightbox that is over two meters tall. In the presence of these works, the viewer experiences both geological time and anthropological time at once, and is simultaneously brought to realization of time’s various conceptions.

Thomson comments, “I love analog media like wall calendars and magazines because they are on the cusp of disappearing.” His works seem to contain the message that the existence of us humans may be similarly fleeting.

One can almost step into the light emanating from these incredibly immersive Wall Calendars. They deliver an immediate spark of humor as soon as you lay your eyes upon them, while also providing the joy of gradually decoding and unraveling a multitude of interwoven meanings.

In conjunction with this exhibition, MAKI Gallery / Tennoz I, Tokyo will be showing another Wall Calendar piece alongside works from the artist’s Rods and Cones series. Please take this opportunity to visit both shows and fully delve into Thomson’s world.