Exhibition Review

Thomas Houseago: What Went Down.

Modern Art Oxford: 11 December – 20 February 2011.

As you enter the first and largest room of the exhibition you are immediately confronted by ‘Cyclops No.1’: arresting and dramatic. The artist intended this room to feel overbearing and confusing. You arrive in his out of proportion world, with its landscape of dense standing figures, primordial plaster masks, disembodied heads, bronze panels, tactile clay mounds and discs of aluminium.

A student of Central St Martin’s, London and De Ateliers, Amsterdam, Houseago now lives in Los Angeles. This exposure to both European and Contemporary American Art has led to his eclectic mix of influences. He plays with the rules of Classical figurative sculpture, paying homage to it whilst distorting its core.  He draws inspiration from the Modernist art of Picasso, Brancusi and Jacob Epstein, as well as the Minimalist sculpture of Carl Andre and Donald Judd.

Some works scream technology, others evoke an organic origin. The cradle-like shell of ‘Biggest spoon’ and the cool aluminium discs of ‘Sunrise/Sunset’ establish order in the midst of chaos. The erratic patterns on the discs are a by-product of their manufacture: the artist allowing the raw materials to speak for themselves, favouring this element of chance and the idea of the work developing and evolving on its own. This is further exemplified in the focus on form rather than embellishment resulting in strikingly stark sculpture.

Nature is again the inspiration for the smooth ovals of ‘Owl Mask III’ which echoes Brancusi. But hanging directly opposite are the sharp geometrics of ‘Machine Mask I’: a juxtaposition which perfectly displays the contrasting facets of Houseago’s practice. This technological theme is further continued in the monumental mechanical warriors and sinister masks, products of his fascination with cartoons and science fiction.

Finally you are greeted by ‘Baby’, one of the artist’s most recent works: created for this year’s Whitney Biennial in New York; a showcase for young artists who best portray contemporary art in America. The largest of Houseago’s figures, like King Kong or Ted Hughes’ Iron Man, ‘Baby’ is at once imposing and vulnerable. Every stage of the artist’s creative process is displayed in the angular plains of this piece, crude charcoal outlines on one section, tactile layered plaster on another and the raw iron structure exposed. On an adjacent wall hangs the ‘Tujunga Series’: the latest stage in the creative journey of this exciting young artist. In complete contrast, they are three serenely minimalist panels of pure symmetrical form, the Californian landscape providing the stimulus.

Constantly discovering and developing, Houseago really engages with the materials, reworking and refining. Like the notebook of an inventor, his works display his thought processes as they evolve. This highly personal approach creates pieces of great emotional magnitude. The distinctive style and energetic nature of his practice shows great ambition, a young artist forging a revolution in contemporary sculpture; he is definitely one to watch.