Mega Alright Part II : Thomas Langley

Union Gallery is pleased to present Mega Alright Part II with works by artist Thomas Langley, curated by William Gustafsson.

Langley’s work dives into the issues of questioning and reflecting on the state of art practice. Often his works are self referential while attempting to approach certain universal truths, the human condition or more specifically the artistic condition.

Langley’s compositions are very matter of fact statements, confronting himself as a maker but also the viewer as result of his making. Using humour though a playful aesthetic Langley pushes social nerves to get his message across. Present in Langley’s work is his own struggle in making mirrored by one’s daily existence. The issues one faces. Langley uses his work as an expression of consciousness spoken through the voice of a universal language.

For this exhibition Langley revisits “Mega Alright” - a working title device for a show prior to Langley’s studies at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The title itself is contradictory even oxymoronic. Langley holds himself accountable in his making, creating an integrity in contradiction. Fascinated by the juxtaposition between duality and contradiction, Langley strives for a double edged balancing of his works on a level platform. Comfortable with the idea of failure, while ever striving for the new.

This is embodied in the prominent sculpture, Seesaw, filling the gallery space. This instantly recognisable object has been stripped of its function heightening the tension of the work and its balanced state seems to add value to what may be conceived as a leisure object. The sculpture is charged with a representation of a scale of value with the notion of play alongside the need for interconnection or relation between parties.

The negation of this by locking and securing into a fixed position renders the object either defunct or in frozen in flux. The physical nature of the playground is brought into the adult realm through upscaling, the use of raw industrial materials and embellishment through the addition of framed works on paper.

Word play is deeply rooted in Langley’s work, presenting bursts of energy and snippets of the everyday.


Thomas Langley (b. 1986, London, UK) Recent solo exhibitions include, Just like anything, Marian Cramer, Amsterdam (2018), Art Type Stuff, Stour Space, London (2016); and group exhibitions, YOU SEE ME LIKE A UFO, The Grange, Royal Ascot (2017); A series of pocket Utopias, Yellow Brick and Snehta, Athens (2017); It is what it isn’t, Big Shed, Aldeburgh (2017); Cut, Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London (2017); Premiums: Interim Projects, Royal Academy, London (2017); Zone d’Utopie Temporaire Part II, The Koppel Project Hive, London (2016); Charley Thomas, CRATE, Margate (2014); and Mega Alright, The Horse Bridge Centre, Whitstable (2012).

Langley lives and works in London, UK