Highpoint Editions Artist, Mungo Thomson has an upcoming solo exhibition titled, For Your Reference that will be held at the Colefax Gallery at the Santa Barbara Museum of art. The exhibition will be showing “three films containing images scanned from birdwatching field guides, history textbooks, and a handbook for mimes.” “These films playfully comment on the presumed authority of reference materials. Thomson asks: Can anyone really tell the entire history of the world in just one volume? Can humor be practiced and perfected through gesture alone? He reveals how these books flatten complex ideas such as nature and history.
Mungo Thomson, Volume 10. A Field Guide to Hummingbirds (still), 2024. Video installation with sound, 3 minutes, 13 seconds. SBMA, Purchase with funds provided by Kandy Budgor; Luria/Budgor Family Foundation. © Mungo Thomson. Santa Barbara Museum of Art photo
The exhibition will be on view from May 17th, 2026 until October 26th, 2026