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.
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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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