For the first time since Tom Wesselmann’s death in 2004, the artist’s Cooper Square studio in New York will open its doors to the public, offering visitors a rare opportunity to experience the place where many of his final works were conceived. The opening will be marked by Wesselmann x Matsuyama, a special exhibition pairing works by the Pop Art pioneer with contemporary Japanese-American artist Tomokazu Matsuyama.
Presented by the Estate of Tom Wesselmann with support from Almine Rech, the exhibition runs from 19th–27th September 2026, transforming the studio into an intimate dialogue between two artists whose practices, though separated by generations and geography, share an interest in elevating the visual language of everyday life.
The exhibition builds on a relationship that began in 2024, when Matsuyama was invited to contribute to Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann & … at Fondation Louis Vuitton. Returning that conversation to Wesselmann’s own workspace creates a unique context in which to compare the artists’ approaches to popular imagery, domestic interiors and contemporary visual culture.
At the heart of the exhibition is a pairing between Wesselmann’s monumental Still Life #35 (1963) and Matsuyama’s We The People (2025). While Wesselmann enlarged the imagery of American consumer culture into billboard-scale compositions that blurred the boundaries between advertising and painting, Matsuyama reimagines an American supermarket as a stage where art history, commerce and contemporary life collide. Familiar brands, historical references and densely layered patterns combine to create paintings that encourage prolonged looking rather than instant recognition.
Throughout the exhibition, visitors will encounter recurring themes that connect the two artists. Wesselmann’s celebrated bedroom paintings transformed domestic interiors through saturated colour, fragmented bodies and everyday objects, while Matsuyama approaches similar spaces through the experience of living between Japanese and American cultures. Despite their different historical contexts, both artists use painting to make the familiar appear newly strange and visually charged.
More than a temporary exhibition, Wesselmann x Matsuyama also represents a rare opening of one of New York’s significant artist studios. Preserved as the place where Wesselmann worked during the final decade of his life, the Cooper Square space offers an unusually direct encounter with the environment in which his late practice evolved.
Advance registration is required for the limited public opening, with timed visits taking place across three days between 19th and 26th September HERE
About Matsuyama
Matsuyama (b. 1976, Gifu, Japan) is a contemporary artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Working across painting, sculpture, and installation, he creates works that organically connect the Eastern and the Western, ancient and contemporary, representational and abstract elements. His practice reflects both his experience living between cultures and the changing nature of contemporary society in an information-driven age. Matsuyama’s public art projects include Midnight Moment (Times Square, New York, 2026), the Bowery Mural (New York, 2019 and 2023), JR Shinjuku East Exit Plaza (Tokyo, 2020), and Meiji Jingu Shrine (Tokyo, 2020). His exhibitions include Tomokazu Matsuyama: Morning Sun (Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center, 2025), Liberation Back Home (SCAD Museum of Art, 2025), and Tomokazu Matsuyama: FIRST LAST (Azabudai Hills Gallery, 2025).
About The Estate of Tom Wesselmann
The Estate of Tom Wesselmann is dedicated to furthering the knowledge, appreciation, and exhibition of Tom Wesselmann’s art. Through exhibitions, scholarship, and the preservation of the artist’s archives, the Estate works to advance understanding of Wesselmann’s enduring contribution to postwar American art.
