Exhibition: Tom Thayer, A Biography of the Sun

The Sun is music without do-re-mi. It’s music for the eyes. It moves with us. It shines in all directions. It touches the moon and your face at the same time. From birth to death, it calls each day into being. It’s the same sun that warmed the reptiles of the coal era. It’s the same sun that shone in the pharaohs’ eyes. It’s a furnace, a battery, a light, a clock, a star, a god. The flowers worship it. It makes rainbows. It draws shadows everywhere. It kisses everything it sees. It has seen you naked. It starts fires. It disappears at night. And eventually, it consumes us all. The Sun does not care how you taste. It doesn’t care about your life, your job, your values, that you resemble your sisters, that you have a broken tooth, that you are covered in flies, that you planned a trip, or that you still have work to do. It does not care that you promised it a secret promise—just you and the sun. The Sun still devours everyone. Butterflies are strong fliers. They have been seen flapping their wings across oceans towards certain death. Is that because they know something foundational awaits? Open your eyes. Look at the Sun. You will see your departed loved ones. They seem okay. —Tom Thayer

Tom Thayer (b. 1970, Chicago Heights, IL; lives and works in New Jersey) is a Professor of Painting, Drawing, and Diverse Media at the City College of New York. Solo and two-person exhibitions include I Want to Climb Through the Windows of My Eyes and Become Static Electricity, Matt Hoyt & Tom Thayer, Bureau, NY (2024); What you wonder about is what you know– as well as the other way around., Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY (2022); Einig, Matt Hoyt & Tom Thayer, Stations, Berlin, Germany (2019); Make a Pinch Pot Out of Your Mouth, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY (2019). Group exhibitions include Greater New York 2026, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY (2026); Le Contre-Ciel, curated by Olivia Shao, Empty Gallery, Hong Kong (2024); Nurikabe, Tetsuo’s Garage, Nikko, Japan (2019); I got the Moon in the Morning and the Sun at Night, WallRiss Gallery, Fribourg, Switzerland (2019); 2012 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2012); Looking Back: The White Columns Annual, selected by Jay Sanders, White Columns, New York, NY (2008). Performances include Tom and Henry Thayer for Abasement 66, organized by Joe Frivaldi, Artists Space, New York, NY (2023); Matt Hoyt and Tom Thayer, Loong Mah, New York, NY (2021); An Evening with Tom Thayer, Modern Mondays, curated by Stephanie Webber, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2013). His work is in the collections of University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chicago, IL; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; and The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH.