Tuesday Night Lecture Series: Tom Thayer

As part of the Tuesday Night Lecture Series (TNLS) BU College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts presents a lecture with designer Tom Thayer, organized by MFA Painting

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. Drawing on Art Brut, children’s art, and experimental education, Thayer’s surreal works have a crude, naive spirit. He activates his paintings and sculptures through animation and music in improvised performances he calls Scenographic Plays. As an educator, Thayer practices various approaches to empirical and discovery learning. Solo and two-person exhibitions include Matt Hoyt & Tom Thayer I Want to Climb Through the Windows of My Eyes and Become Static Electricity, Bureau, New York, 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 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).