Mungo Thomson
Mungo Thomson (b. 1969, Woodland, California) approaches mass culture and everyday perceptual experience through a lens of deep time and cosmic scale, implicating the spaces of production and exhibition along the way in ever-widening extrapolations. He has convened an orchestral ensemble to perform a score transcribed from the chirping of crickets, persuaded museums to let their incoming mail pile up unopened in the galleries for the run of an exhibition, made a stop-motion film animation of his art dealer’s Rolodex, and replaced the coat-hangers in the Whitney Museum’s coat check with custom-made hangers modeled on orchestral triangles, transforming it into an enormous musical instrument. Mungo Thomson attended the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in New York and the Graduate Fine Art Program at University of California, Los Angeles.
Recent solo exhibitions have been held at Karma, Los Angeles (2023); Aspen Art Museum (2022–23); Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris (2022, 2016); Karma, New York (2022); Maki Gallery/Isetan, Tokyo (2021); Galerie Frank Elbaz, Dallas (2019); Masahiro Maki Gallery, Tokyo (2019); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2018); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2018); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2015); and the High Line, New York (2013). He was included in the CAFAM Biennial (2014), Istanbul Biennial (2011), Whitney Biennial (2008), Performa (2005–06), and the Biennial of the Moving Image (2001). His work is held in the public collections of By Art Matters, Hangzhou, China; FRAC Île-de-France, Paris; GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museo Jumex, México City; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.
Born 1969, Woodland, California
Lives and works in Los Angeles
EDUCATION
2000
MFA, University of California, Los Angeles
1994
Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program
1991
BA, University of California, Santa Cruz
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions and Projects
2023
Karma, Los Angeles, Time Life
2022-23
Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado, Mungo Thomson: Sculptures
2022
Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, Sideways Thought
Karma, New York, Time Life
2021
Maki Gallery/Isetan, Tokyo, Nagori Yuki
2019
Galerie Frank Elbaz, Dallas, Background Extinction
Masahiro Maki Gallery, Tokyo, Rods and Cones
2018
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Composition for 52 Keys, curated by Sylvia Wolf
MFA Contemporary, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Mungo Thomson: The American Desert, curated by Kanitra Fletcher
2016
Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, Why Does the World Exist?
Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis, Mungo Thomson & Do Ho Suh
2015
Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Time, People, Money, Crickets, curated by Nigel Prince
The Apartment, Vancouver, Decorating with Plants
2014
ArtPace, San Antonio, Crickets for Solo and Ensemble
Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, Wall, Window or Bar Signs, curated by Joseph Del Pesco
2013
SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, Time, People, Money, Crickets, curated by Irene Hoffmann
Times Museum, Guangzhou, China, Mungo Thomson: Crickets, curated by Ruijun Shen
The High Line, New York, High Line Art Performances: Mungo Thomson, curated by Cecilia Alemani
Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris
2012
Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, Levitating Mass, curated by Matthew Thompson
The Apartment, Vancouver
2010
Western Bridge, Seattle, New Year 7: Mungo Thomson
Gavlak Gallery, Palm Beach, Aleksandra Mir / Mungo Thomson
2009
John Connelly Presents, New York, The Varieties of Experience
LAXART, Los Angeles, Billboard Project
2008
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Hammer Projects: Mungo Thomson, curated by Ali Subotnick
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, Einstein #1
2007
Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, Mungo Thomson: Between Projects, curated by Adam Carr
2006
Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GAMeC), Bergamo, Italy, Mungo Thomson: Negative Space Variations, curated by Alessandro Rabottini
Art Basel 37, Basel, Art Statements
REC., Galerie Esther Schipper, Berlin
2005
The Suburban, Oak Park, Illinois
John Connelly Presents, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York
2004
California State University Art Museum, Long Beach, Centric 65: Mungo Thomson, curated by Mary-Kay Lombino
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
2002
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, United Kingdom, ELEKTRA: Gabriel Orozco and Mungo Thomson
2000
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
The Hole, Los Angeles, Hcurated by Dani Tull and Jessica Gallucci
Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, California, Color is the First Revelation of the World
2023
MUDAM Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Mudam Performance Season ll : After Laughter Comes Tears
2022
George Adams Gallery, New York, (m)ad-libs
BY ART MATTERS, Hangzhou, China, Building and Dreaming
2021
Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco, Sharing a (S)hell
2019
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, Among Others: Photography and the Group, curated by Frances Dorenbaum
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Ancient History of the Distant Future, curated by Jodi Throckmorton and Joseph del Pesco
Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, Slant Step Forward, curated by Francesca Wilmott
New Media Gallery, Vancouver, Cartooney, curated by Gordon Duggan and Sarah Joyce
2018
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Stories of Almost Everyone, curated by Aram Moshayedi
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Selections from the Permanent Collection, curated by Anna Katz
Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Post-Studio, curated by Kit Hammonds
Marres, Maastricht, The Netherlands, Superstition, curated by Erich Weiss
Brand Library & Art Center, Glendale, California, Vision Valley, curated by The Pit
Over the Influence, Los Angeles, “An Homage to Hollis Benton”, curated by Aaron Moulton
2017
The Jewish Museum, New York, The Arcades: Walter Benjamin and Contemporary Art, curated by Jens Hoffmann
Friche La Belle de Mai, Marseilles, Cash for Gold like Smoke for Mirrors and Land for Sea, curated by Lauren Mackler / Public Fiction
FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Centre D’Art Contemporain Passages, Troyes, France, Passages Nocturne, curated by Anne-Lou Vicente and Raphaël Brunel
Copper Mountain Mesa Community Center, Joshua Tree, California, An Ephemeral History of High Desert Test Sites: 2002-2015, curated by Aram Moshayedi and Sohrab Mohebbi
JOAN, Los Angeles, More Light, curated by Gladys-Katherina Hernando
Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole, Observatories, curated by Matthew Day Jackson, Camille Obering, and Andy Kincaid
Expo Chicago, Chicago, Override
Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, The Basilisk, curated by Aaron Moulton
2016
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Ordinary Pictures, curated by Eric Crosby
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA Exuberance, curated by Rita Gonzalez and Michael Govan
The Storefront, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The Poet and the Critic, and the Missing, curated by Lauren Mackler / Public Fiction
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, Touch the Sky, curated by Mary-Kay Lombino
Ballroom Marfa, Texas, This is Presence / Sim City, curated by Arturo Bandini
Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Prototypology: An Index of Process and Mutation, curated by Aaron Moulton
Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, Default, curated by Eden Phair
2015
Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Collecion Jumex, In Girum Imus Nocte et Consumimir Igni, curated by Nicolas Ceccaldi, Fernando Mesta, Eva Svennung, Bernadette Van Huy, Susana Vargas and Peter Wächtler
Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, California, Theories of Forgetting, curated by Aaron Moulton
White Columns, New York, Project LSD, organized by Rob Tufnell
2014
Beirut and Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, A Guest Without A Host Is A Ghost, curated by Kadist Art Foundation and Beirut
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California, California Landscape Into Abstraction, curated by Dan Cameron
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, Arizona, Golden State, curated by Drew Heitzler
Galleria Zero, Milan, Imitatio Christie’s (partoftheprocess6)
Rob Tufnell, London, On the Devolution of Culture
Frutta Gallery, Rome, Small Rome, curated by Adam Carr
Aran Cravey, Los Angeles, And Yes, I Even Remember You, curated by Eric Kim
The Pit, Los Angeles, The Outlanders
2013
Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Wales, Dear Portrait, curated by Adam Carr
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, The Polaroid Years: Instant Photography and Experimentation, curated by Mary-Kay Lombino
Arizona State University Art Museum, Phoenix, Turn off the Sun: Selections from La Colección Jumex, curated by Heather Sealy Lineberry, Julio César Morales and Michel Blancsubé
Collins Park, Miami Beach, Art Basel Miami Beach: Art Public, curated by Nicholas Baume
Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, Specific Collisions II, curated by Melissa Gordon
Gavin Brown’s enterprise / Venus Over Manhattan, New York
Night Gallery, Los Angeles, Made in Space, curated by Peter Harkawik and Laura Owens
Ambach and Rice, Los Angeles, Rocks and Clocks: Cameron Gainer, Mark Hagen, Emilie Halpern, Mungo Thomson
2012
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, The Living Years: Art After 1989, curated by Siri Engberg and Clara Kim
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco, 101 Collection: Route 3, curated by David Kasprzak
Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, Kadist – Pathways into a Collection, curated by Inti Guerrero
Firstsite, Colchester, News From Nowhere, curated by Michelle Cotton
Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute, Temporary Structures, curated by Glen Helfand and Cydney Payton
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Lifelike, curated by Siri Engberg
Los Angeles Nomadic Division, Marfa, Texas, Nothing Beside Remains, curated by Shamim M. Momin
Mount Wilson Observatory, Los Angeles, Knowledges, curated by Christina Ondrus and Elleni Sclavenitis
Metro Pictures, New York, Dogma, curated by Gianni Jetzer
Luis Adelantado, México City, Mapas Invisibles, curated by Violeta Solís Horcasitas
Western Bridge, Seattle, Devouring Time
Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, Particles
2011
Arnolfini, Bristol, Magical Consciousness, curated by Runa Islam
New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester, Play Ground, curated by Hugo Worthy
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Second Nature: Contemporary Landscapes from the MFAH Collection, curated by Alison de Lima Greene
Western Bridge, Seattle, Fun House
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Locations
Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, La Vie Mode D’emploi (Life: A User’s Manual)
Rob Tufnell, London, Transcendental Empiricism
2010
Castello di Rivoli, Torino, Italy, Exhibition, Exhibition, curated by Adam Carr
Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Art Museum, Summer Projects, curated by Michael Darling
Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, MOCA Art Basel Miami Beach Collection, curated by Bonnie Clearwater and Ruba Katrib
Fundación/Colección Jumex, México City, El Gabinete Blanco / The White Cabinet, curated by Adriano Pedrosa
Galerie Elba Benitez, Madrid, Huis Clos / No Exit, curated by Magali Arriola
Rodeo Gallery, Istanbul, Altogether Elsewhere, curated by Rob Tufnell
Portugal Arte 2010, Lisbon, Billboard Project, curated by Cesar Garcia and Lauri Firstenberg
2009
Stedelijk Museum voor Aktuelle Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium, Museum Marta Herford, Herford, Germany, Beyond the Picturesque / Pittoresk, curated by Steven Jacobs and Frank Maes
Fundación/Colección Jumex, México City, La nada y el ser (Nothingness and Being), curated by Shamim M. Momin
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona, Looking Through the Other End of the Telescope, curated by Cassandra Coblentz
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California, The Moving Image: Scan to Screen, Pixel to Projection, curated by Karen Moss
Hessel Museum at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, Changing Light Bulbs In Thin Air, curated by Summer Guthery
Fundación/Colección Jumex, México City, Les Enfants Terribles, curated by Michel Blancsubé
2008
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image, Part 2: Realisms, curated by Anne Ellegood and Kristen Hileman
North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art at Goldman Warehouse, The Possibility of an Island, curated by Ruba Katrib
Royal Academy of Art, London, Sudden White (After London), curated by Mark Beasley
The Kitchen, New York, The Future as Disruption, curated by Rashida Bumbray and Matthew Lyons
Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, The Lining of Forgetting, curated by Xandra Eden
Proyectos Monclova, México City, Huis Clos / No Exit, curated by Magali Arriola
Tulips & Roses, Vilnius, Lithuania, The Store, curated by Adam Carr
Blum and Poe, Los Angeles, Red Wind
2007
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago / Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967, curated by Dominic Molon (cat.)
Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, Been Up So Long It Looks Like Down To Me, curated by Mark Soo
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, William Leavitt, Allen Ruppersberg, Mungo Thomson
2006
Creative Time, New York, Strange Powers, curated by Peter Eeley and Laura Hoptman
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, Prophets of Deceit, curated by Magali Arriola
Gagosian Gallery, 4th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Happiness, curated by Martin Germann
Zwirner and Wirth, New York, Yes Bruce Nauman, curated by Kristine Bell and Alexandra Whitney
The Breeder, Athens, When the Moon Shines on the Moonshine, curated by Robert Meijer
STORE Gallery, London, The Show Will Be Open When the Show Will Be Closed, curated by Adam Carr
2005
Regent’s Park, London, Frieze Art Fair Sculpture Park, curated by David Thorp
White Columns, New York, The Early Show, curated by Elysia Borowy-Reeder and Scott Reeder
2004
Sculpture Center, Long Island City, Treble, curated by Regine Basha
Independent Curators International, New York, 100 Artists See God, curated by John Baldessari and Meg Cranston
Artists’ Space, New York, Repeat Performance, curated by Christian Rattemeyer
Or Gallery, Vancouver, 2048 KM, curated by Melanie O’Brian
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, Drunk vs. Stoned, curated by Elysia Borowy-Reeder and Scott Reeder
Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, Land of the Free, curated by Lee Plested
Studio Voltaire, London, Tonight, curated by Paul O’Neill
2003
Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, 17 Reasons, curated by Kate Fowle
Public Project, Los Angeles, Sandwiched, curated by Jacob Fabricius
Public Project, New York, The Outlaw Series, curated by Lisa Kirk
D’Amelio Terras, New York, Now Playing
John Connelly Presents, New York, SNOWBLIND: Matthew Brannon, Wade Guyton, Mungo Thomson
2002
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco, Rock My World: Recent Art and the Memory of Rock’n’Roll, curated by Ralph Rugoff
New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Videodrome II, curated by Anne Ellegood
Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Hear the Art, curated by Uwe Bressnik
A-Z West, Joshua Tree, California, High Desert Test Sites, curated by John Connelly, Andy Stillpass and Andrea Zittel
2001
Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense, Denmark, [untitled] 654321, curated by Jacob Fabricius
TENT.CBK, Rotterdam, Hemorrhaging of States, curated by Ciara Ennis and Theo Tegelaers
Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, I Want More…And More…, curated by Matthew Higgs
Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, Drawn from LA, curated by Connell Ray Little and Julie Deamer
2000
Art In General, New York, Re-Drawing the Line, curated by Monica Amor
Chicago Project Room, Los Angeles, Living, Part Two, curated by Daniel Hug
Awards, Grants, Residencies
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award
California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists
Harvard University Certificate of Teaching Excellence
Arcadia Summer Arts Program, Mt Desert Island, Maine
The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions
Artist Residency, Stichting Kaus Australis, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Selected Biennial and Festival Exhibitions
2014
CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, 2nd CAFAM Biennale: The Invisible Hand, curated by Xiaoyu Weng
2013
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2013: Public Diary, curated by Keiko Okamura, Hiromi Kitazawa, Junya Yamamine and Hiroko Tasaka
2012
Greystone Mansion, Los Angeles, Pacific Standard Time Public Art and Performance Festival: The Ball of Artists, curated by Lauri Firstenberg and Richard Massey
2011
Antrepo 3 and 5, Istanbul, Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial), curated by Jens Hoffmann and Adriano Pedrosa
2009
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Compilation IV, curated by Ulrike Groos and Magdalena Holzhey
2008
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2008 Whitney Biennial Exhibition, curated by Henriette Huldisch and Shamim M. Momin
Museum of Contemporary Art, Panama City, 8th Bienal de Arte Panama: The Sweet Burnt Smell of History, curated by Magali Arriola
Musée Malraux, Le Havre, France, Le Havre Biennial of Contemporary Art, curated by Ger Van Elk
2005
PERFORMA05: First Biennial Of Visual Art Performance, New York, curated by Roselee Goldberg and Anthony Huberman
2004
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California, 2004 California Biennial, curated by Elizabeth Armstong and Irene Hoffmann
2001
MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland, 9th Biennial of the Moving Image: Sound System, curated by Catherine Pavlovic
Public Collections
101 Collection of the ArtNow International Foundation, San Francisco di Rosa Preserve, Napa, California
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California
Collection Meeschaert, Paris
FRAC Île-de-France, Paris
Fundación/Colección Jumex, México City
Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GAMeC), Bergamo, Italy Schaulager / Emmanuel Hoffmann Collection, Basel, Switzerland
Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC
J. Michael Bishop Collection at Mission Bay, University of California San Francisco, California
Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
New School University Art Collection, New York City
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California
Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, California
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Western Bridge, Seattle, Washington
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Publications
2020
Mungo Thomson
Mail
Text by Aram Moshayedi
Inventory Press
496 pages
10 1⁄4 × 8 inches
2019
Mungo Thomson
Rods and Cones
Masahiro Maki Gallery, Tokyo
72 pages, hardcover
10 1⁄2 × 7 1⁄2 inches
2013
Mungo Thomson
Time People Money Crickets
SITE, Santa Fe/Contemporary Art Gallery Vancouver
200 pages, hardcover
8 ½ x 11 inches
