If you're expecting the sculptor Thomas Houseago at his most menacing, you'll be in for a different sort of adventure this winter at Hauser & Wirth. The tribal masks are gone; the lunging, glaring figures have sauntered off. Houseago has flipped his world around to explore the negative space around his plaster beasts. 'Moun Room', Houseago's series of ever-larger spaces assembled at Hauser & Wirth's gallery in Chelsea, New York, is an invitation to explore it along with him, with the viewer playing the figure.
The environment is an immersive 11m by 14m, with 3.5m-high plaster walls - dimensions that are rare in Manhattan, even by real estate standards. But far from brick and mortar, it takes on the crude, rough-hewn plaster quality for which Houseago is famous, with visible iron rebar studs resembling protruding ribs, a corporeal quirk that gives it an anthropomorphic quality. The artist has cut out crescents and circles from the plastered-clay walls, then layered them back on in other places to create a geometric bas-relief. Wandering the 'visual maze' and contemplating these voids and cracked textures is like inhabiting the head of one of Houseago's hollow-eyed bodies.
'Moun Room' refers to the surfaces and shapes in the walls, like phases of the moon. You could also argue that the foreignness of the route is like a moon walk. Yet it also nods to Muna El Fituri, Houseago's post-divorce relationship. The relationship is a departure for the artist, as is the art itself. Houseago has gone to a less aggressive, more successful new place - a place we're more than happy to join him.
'Moun Room' is a reference to the moon-like landscape - and to his new girlfriend, Muna El Fituri. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
The environment is an immersive 11m by 14m, with 3.5m-high walls that show the iron rebar studs like protruding ribs. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
The walls take on the crude, rough-hewn plaster quality for which Houseago is famous. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
Houseago cut out crescents and circles from the plastered-clay walls, then layered them back on in other places to create a geometric bas-relief. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
Wandering the 'visual maze' and contemplating these voids and cracked textures is like inhabiting the head of one of Houseago's hollow-eyed bodies. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
ADDRESS
Hauser & Wirth
511 West 18th Street
New York
-
Gucci’s ‘Design Ancora’ reimagines furniture classics in rich redGucci launches new editions of Italian design icons in an alluring deep red, showcased during Milan Design Week 2024
-
Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson drafts artists to create 24 extraordinary lamps at Milan Design Week 2024Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson commissioned international artists and artisans to explore ‘illumination within the house’ with a series of lamps and lighting installations, shown at a group exhibition at Milan Design Week 2024
-
What are polynucleotides? Trying the skin injectable made from salmon spermPolynucleotides are the latest in skin injectables, containing DNA derived from the gonads of salmon. Wallpaper* Beauty & Grooming Editor Hannah Tindle tries them to discover exactly how they work
-
Who is the future of British art? Hauser & Wirth Somerset finds out‘Present Tense’ at Hauser & Wirth Somerset showcases some of Britain’s most exciting emerging talents with a group show of 23 artists
-
Avery Singer considers 9/11 trauma and corporate anonymity at Hauser & Wirth‘Avery Singer: Free Fall’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, melding a serene office aesthetic with moments of horror
-
Frieze London 2023: what to see and doEverything you want to see at Frieze London 2023 and around the city in our frequently updated guide
-
Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth unite for a sensorial London exhibition and auctionHospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth are working together to raise money for arts and mental health charities
-
Cindy Sherman’s freaky new portrait collages dissect the divided selfWe preview Cindy Sherman’s new portraits, on view at Hauser & Wirth Zurich during Zurich Art Weekend – which will see digitally manipulated collages explore the many facets of society
-
Gary Simmons on the erasure of racist tropes: ‘I don't want them to be forgotten for their menace’In Gary Simmons’ new show, ‘This Must Be the Place’ at Hauser & Wirth, London, the artist explores the process of cultural erasure, and the traces it leaves behind
-
All eyes on Christina Quarles, the painter inventing a new figurative languageLos Angeles-based artist Christina Quarles is in her element, with two major solo shows underway at Hamburger Bahnhof and Hauser & Wirth Menorca
-
Remembering Phyllida Barlow (1944 – 2023): a titanic force of British sculptureWe look back on the life and work of Phyllida Barlow, revered British sculptor, educator and Hauser & Wirth artist who has passed away aged 78
