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
-
Dine within a rationalist design gem at the newly opened Cucina TriennaleCucina Triennale is the latest space to open at Triennale Milano, a restaurant and a café by Luca Cipelletti and Unifor, inspired by the building's 1930s design
-
The collections you might have missed this S/S 2026 menswear seasonBetween the headliners in Paris, Milan and Florence, a few off-schedule displays are deserving of honourable mention – from Martine Rose’s sexually-charged portrait of Kensington Market to Sander Lak’s appointment-only namesake debut
-
Meet artist Michael McGregor, using hotel stationery as his canvasMichael McGregor unveils an exclusive postcard set made with notepads from The Luxury Collection properties in Minneapolis, San Francisco and Savannah
-
What is recycling good for, asks Mika Rottenberg at Hauser & Wirth MenorcaUS-based artist Mika Rottenberg rethinks the possibilities of rubbish in a colourful exhibition, spanning films, drawings and eerily anthropomorphic lamps
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth SomersetAn intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Inside the distorted world of artist George RouyFrequently drawing comparisons with Francis Bacon, painter George Rouy is gaining peer points for his use of classic techniques to distort the human form
-
Inside Jack Whitten’s contribution to American contemporary artAs Jack Whitten exhibition ‘Speedchaser’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, and before a major retrospective at MoMA opens next year, we explore the American artist's impact
-
The lesser-known Los Angeles galleries contributing to a vibrant art sceneOutside of LACMA, MOCA and The Broad, these independent LA galleries are major players in the art world
-
Larry Bell explores the ethereal nature of glass in MonacoLarry Bell's retrospective at Hauser & Wirth, Monaco, unites old and new work
-
Los Angeles art exhibitions: the best shows to see in July 2025Read our pick of the best Los Angeles art exhibitions to see this month, from Viraj Khanna's first solo West Coast exhibition at Rajiv Menon Contemporary to ‘Roots of Cool’ celebrating female artists at Descanso Gardens
-
Nicole Eisenman explores the dimensions of sculpture and painting at Hauser & Wirth ParisNicole Eisenman presents ‘with, and, of, on Sculpture’, her first retrospective at Hauser & Wirth Paris drawing inspiration from political challengers to ABBA
