Unit London – Teiji Hayama: I link, therefore I am

Unit London welcomes back Teiji Hayama for his second solo exhibition with the gallery, entitled I link, therefore I am. Developing the themes of his previous exhibition, Fame, the show aims to convey society’s ever-growing obsession with celebrity and digital culture through an enhanced caricatural visual language.

Through portraits of instantaneously recognisable icons such as Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Twiggy, all of whom Hayama describes as “vintage influencers”, the artist explores the process by which a person becomes stratospherically famous, a process the artist himself labels as a “path of no return.” This path has seemed to unfold via a mixture of hard work and meticulous social maintenance. As such, I link, therefore I am uses these iconic images to expose contemporary issues connected to the evolution of various social technologies.