’Maison Fragiles’: Hauser & Wirth’s new show is an ode to vulnerability

Hauser & Wirth London draws together the work of nine artists in ‘Maisons Fragiles’, a group exhibition exploring themes of fragility, vulnerability and protection

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Maisons Fragiles’ is a new group exhibition
'Maisons Fragiles’ is a new group exhibition at Hauser & Wirth London that explores themes of fragility, vulnerability and protection
(Image credit: courtesy the artists and Hauser & Wirth)

Louise Bourgeois' precariously balanced series of sculptures give the illusion of frailty, but on closer inspection a steel construction provides them with a hidden strength. Appearing like empty houses, the ‘Maisons Fragiles’ are a commentary on the solitude of domestic life, confronting the deeply repressed issues that conditioned her youth.

Now, the title of these poignant works has given birth to a new exhibition of the same name, currently on show at Hauser & Wirth London. Led by Bourgeois' steel houses, the exhibition encompasses the work of nine artists united by themes of fragility, vulnerability and protection.

Slightly bowed like glossy rose-tinted pools of liquid or blocks of ice, Roni Horn's translucent glass sculptures Two Pink Tons, 2008, sit in the centre of the smaller gallery space, appearing as if suspended in time and space. On the adjacent wall, Richard Serra's flat corten wall sculpture, Untitled, 1975, with its time-work patina, is a manifestation of the artist's interest in the collision of matter and space.

Work spanning 60 years of artistic practice

Encompassing work spanning 60 years of artistic practice, the exhibition includes pieces by Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Isa Genzken, Robert Gober, Eva Hesse, Roni Horn, Gordon Matta-Clark, Fausto Melotti and Richard Serra

(Image credit: courtesy the artists and Hauser & Wirth)

Louise Bourgeois’ Maisons Fragiles, 1978

Louise Bourgeois' Maisons Fragiles, 1978, a precariously balanced series of sculptures that lends its name to the title of the exhibition, confronts the deeply repressed issues that conditioned the artist’s youth

(Image credit: courtesy the artists and Hauser & Wirth)

Slightly bowed like glossy rose-tinted pools of liquid or blocks of ice

Slightly bowed like glossy rose-tinted pools of liquid or blocks of ice, Roni Horn's translucent glass sculptures Two Pink Tons, 2008, sit in the centre of the smaller gallery space

(Image credit: courtesy the artists and Hauser & Wirth)

Richard Serra’s flat corten wall sculpture

On the adjacent wall, Richard Serra's flat corten wall sculpture, Untitled, 1975, is a manifestation of the artist's interest in the collision of matter and space

(Image credit: courtesy the artists and Hauser & Wirth)

Left: crumbling brutalist architectural model, right: artist’s lyrical approach to sculpture

Isa Genzken's rough-hewn concrete forms appear like crumbling brutalist architectural models (pictured left), while Fausto Melotti’s I lavandai (The Launderers), 1969, encapsulates the artist’s lyrical approach to sculpture, drawing on the lightness and tactility of the delicate materials from which it is crafted (pictured right)

(Image credit: courtesy the artists and Hauser & Wirth)

Gordon Matta-Clark’s Splitting, 1974

Pictured centre: in Gordon Matta-Clark's Splitting, 1974, a suburban house in New Jersey is cut with a chainsaw and rearranged, creating unexpected apertures and incisions

(Image credit: courtesy the artists and Hauser & Wirth)

INFORMATION

’Maisons Fragiles’ is on view until 6 February. For more information visit Hauser & Wirth’s website

Photography courtesy the artists and Hauser & Wirth 

ADDRESS

Hauser & Wirth London
23 Savile Row
London, W1S 2ET

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Ali Morris

Ali Morris is a UK-based editor, writer and creative consultant specialising in design, interiors and architecture. In her 16 years as a design writer, Ali has travelled the world, crafting articles about creative projects, products, places and people for titles such as Dezeen, Wallpaper* and Kinfolk.