: About H. Thomasson, the found object's second cousin twice removed.
A found object barely different/relating/trance-ission/evolutionary:
Hyperart Thomasson aka just Thomason[1] was invented by the Japanese artist Akasegawa Genpei[2] in 1972 in Yotsuya, Tokyo. The first Thomasson was entitled "The pure staircase of Yotsuya"[3]. The term Thomasson derives from the professional baseball player Gary Thomasson, who was signed by the Yomiuri Giants for a record amount of money and spent his last two seasons with the team (1981–1982) failing to produce any hits for the team, coming close to breaking the league strikeout record before being benched and retiring from baseball altogether due to a knee injury.
Akasegawa Genpei, a great baseball enthusiast, viewed Thomasson's useless position on the team as a fitting analogy for, I quote "an object, part of a building, that was maintained in good condition, but with no purpose, to the point of becoming a work of art". In Japanese there is no distinction between the singular and plural forms of the noun Tomason, hence in English as well, Thomasson can denote one or several of such items/structures. In English, the term is sometimes spelled Tomason, or Thomason, we personally prefer the spelling Cis-Art Thomaasson-Kim [sic], for obviously vain, methodological, and artistic reasons.
Our unlearned retina considers it a second cousin twice removed of a rather architectural/infra- or intra-structure “found object” / ”objet trouvé” contained in a positive infinite feedback-loop/self-regression. We intend to put this neglected/underrated concept xor quasi-method to good use in our immediate and impending creative endeavors. IYI: check out the bleak/drab/somber Hiroshima Thomasson.
IYI: Modernology[4] (考現, kogengaku), by Wajiro Kon (今和次郎, Kon Wajirō).
Image 1: First Thomasson ever (but not yet called as such) Yotsuya, Tokyo, 1972, entitled: “the pure staircase of Yotsuya”
Image 2: A coarse outline drawing of the idea to the first Cis-Art Thomaasson-Kim. 2025,
entitled: “Hairway to Steven”
Image 4 : A triple entendre spelling Hyperart Tho…on with a personal Japanese business stamp chop, the Kanji signs represent the meaning of beauty and grace of Asia, spelling Ma-a-su, 2025
[1] 超芸術トマソン: (Japanese: Tomason トマソン or most correct Chōgeijutsu Tomasson 超芸術トマソン)
[2] Genpei Akasegawa (赤瀬川 原平, Akasegawa Genpei) was a pseudonym of Japanese artist Katsuhiko Akasegawa (赤瀬川 克彦, Akasegawa Katsuhiko)
[3] In 1972, Akasegawa discovered the first Thomasson in Yotsuya, Tokyo when he noticed that a staircase had no entrance once reaching the top. Even though there was clear evidence of recent repair work and maintenance on the handrail of the staircase, which seemed to be used even though the staircase itself appeared to serve no purpose at all.
[4] A branch of sociology which explores the transformations of the city and in people after Tokyo became a modern metropolis in the early Showa Era.
이 작품에 직접적인 영향을 준 <하이퍼아트 토마슨>은 1972년 도쿄에서 야구광인 아카세가와 겐페이에 의해 발명되었고, 프로야구팀 내 쓸모없는 선수였던 토마슨의 이름에서 따온 개념, “좋은 상태로 유지되었지만, 용도는 없으나 예술 작품이 될 정도로 잘 보존된 물건, 건물의 일부"로서의 작품인
첫 번째 토마슨은 "요츠야의 순수한 계단"으로, 더 이상 기능이 없어진 계단의 사진이다.
김나영 & 그레고리 마스는 Thomason을 작가명인 ‘마스’와 ‘김’을 덧붙여 ‘Tho-MAASS-on-KIM’으로 재명명하고 <초예술 토마손 킴 Cis-Art Thomaasson-Kim> 작품을 제작했다.
분재 화분 안에 시멘트로 된 계단을 제작하고,
이 위에 보석이 박힌 인조 담배를 얹어서; 효용을 달리한 화분 - 건축물 모형 - 인조 담배라는 구성으로 결국 여러 맥락과 의미의 재떨이와 같은 오브제로 탄생되었으며,
이 작품은 김나영 & 그레고리 마스 작품세계의 잘 알려진 방법론들 (예를 들면 프랑켄슈타이닝,
너무 귀여움 주의, 사이코빌딩 등)을 다양하게 실천한 작품이다.
전시 이력:
안티 셀프_나에 반하여, 아르코미술관, 2025
Three’s a Cloud, 코만드 A @유비도, 일본 도쿄, 2025
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