トーマス メイの芸術的探求は、草と人間の関係を調査します。
メイは「GrassBladeProject」で、世界中の人々に木の棒から草の葉を彫るように頼みます。彼はこのコレクションに、各参加者の名、姓の最初の文字、および役職をラベル付けします。現在のオブジェクト数は 16,784 です。
このコレクションに基づいて、彼は人間と草の関係に関する研究を科学的な方法で整理し発表するアートプロジェクト「GrassBladeInstitute」の創設者兼ディレクターです。これには、5 月の草の彫刻、現代の草の詩集、草の図書館、彫刻されたグラスバルデスの世界的なコレクションなども含まれます。
さらに、メイは風景への介入を最小限に抑え、人間の自然観と自然との関わり方を常に問い続けています。

Grassblade Institute
The main topic of Thomas Mays arts work is grass. He builds installations from that, make workshops with a lot of participants,organize speeches with grass maniacs, as f. ex. the head greenskeeper of the german soccer club. In his work the biological facts about the plant are less important as the symbolic / iconographic meaning for human being.
Starting with the international GrassbladeProject, a collection of about more than 16 000 wooden carved blades of grass from different people all around the world, he is running now a GrassbladeInstitute, which has developed from that.
That is working generally like a scientific institution wich collects everything related to the topic of grass. As an art project it is using a scientific a scientific way of organizing and presenting, It is able to have an obviously subjective way by researches at the field of the plant grass.
It contains a grass library, a colocation of contemporary poems dealing with the topic grass, the collection of the carved grass blades from more then 10 000 people from different cultural and social background and many more.

CV

1992 – 1999 絵画/芸術教育、アカデミー d. B. クンステ・ニュルンベルク、ロイター教授、修士課程学生
1997 – 1998 カールスルーエ大学 – メディアアーツ
1999 – 2000 大学院コース「公共空間における芸術」、Akademie d. B.
クンステ・ニュルンベルク、ヘルツィンガー教授

1992 – 1999 painting/art education, Akademie d. B. Künste Nürnberg, Prof. Reuter, master student
1997 – 1998 Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe – mediaarts
1999 – 2000 Postgraduate course “art in public space”, Akademie d. B.
Künste Nürnberg, Prof. Hölzinger

awards and residencies

1999 Artist in Residence: Germinations 11, Hull, England
Artist in Residence, Wacker Kulturverein, Darmstadt, Germany
2000 Reisestipendium der IHK Nürnberg
2002 Debutantenpreis des Bayerischen Staatsministerium
Artist in Residence in Shenzhen, China
2003 Artist in Residence in Nykarleby, Finnland
2008 Artist in Residence in Aijima art center, Japan
2011 Artist in Residence in Yokohama, Japan
2013 Artist in Residence, »Nature Art Curators Conference«, Gongjiu, Süd-Korea
2014 Cultural promotion prize from the City of Nuremberg
2022 »wireworks – artist in residence«, Ambergate, England
2023 »ourAIR«, Jakobstat, Finnland

Since 2001 realization of the »GrashalmProjekts« in Finland, Poland, England, Czech Republic, Romania, Swiss, Israel, Iceland, Italy, Austria, Croatia, China, South Korea, Japan, Nicaragua, Mongolia
2004 Founding of the »GrashalmInstituts«, Art project to explore the Phenomenon of grass as a culture carrier.

Selection of solo (E) and group exhibitions, catalogue (K)

2024 »FrugaArtTrail«, Rab, Croatia, »Global Nomadic Art Project Mongolia – Nature and Water«, Mongolian National Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, »Hide and Seek and More«, Abacaxi Art Gallery, Managua, Nicaragua
2023 »Bulp«, Kunstraum Kesselhaus, Kunstverein Bamberg, E, »flying Islands«, old harbour art trail, Jakobstadt, Finland,
2022 »wiring chaos and order«, wireworks – Ambergate, Enland, »internatioanle Waldkunstpfad« Darmstadt, »FrugaArtTrail«, Rab, Croatia, »Waldkunstpark.at«, St Corona am Wechsel, Austria, »family business«, Modulgalerie Nürnberg mit Pirko Julia Schröder,
2020/19 »fresh winds« Biennale No6, Gardur, Iceland, K
2019 »zółte mlecze« / »Dandelion«, public space, Wawel Hill, Krakow, Poland, E, »Grassomania Festival«, installation in the public space, Gdansk, Poland, »Natur als Argument«, Kunstverein Bamberg,
2018 »round trip«, Cultural Centre Transilvanian University, Brasov, Romania, »Japan«, KREIS Galerie, Nuernberg,
2017 » »exposition collective«, Galerie Cathédrale, Fribourg, Schweiz, »70 Jahre Künstlerguppe »Der KREIS««, Kunstvilla Nürnberg, K, »In den Raum«, Kunsthaus Nürnberg, K
»Maygrünes Lexikon«, Soklov, Tschechien, E, »Nakanojo Biennale«, Nakanojo, Japan, K, »Desert Art Project«, Negev Wüste – Maktesch Ramon, Israel
2016 »creation of the woods«, (nature art exhibition), Yokohama forest and Nakayama City, K, »RAC – 2016«, Reziden de art contemporan, Brasov (Kornstadt), Rumänien, »20! Kraków/Nuremberg« in Krakau, Polen / Nürnberg in public sapce, »Gemeinsames Geschehen«, with Pirko Schröder, KREIS Galerie, Nbg
2014 „Oranki Art“, Pello, Rovanieme, Finnland, »int. Waldkunstpfad“, Darmstadt, K, „Bothnia Biennale – Nykarleby Recall“, Nykarleby, Finnland, „growing green“, Städtische Galerie Amberg, E, K „air insemination“, Luftmuseum Amberg, K, „hortus conclusus“, Sieff and Marks School, Jerusalem, Israel
2013 „nature related“, Museum Manggha, Krakau, Polen, E,K