Thomas Houseago

ALMOST HUMAN

“In a very general way, you could say there are two approaches in sculpture to the act of making; one tends toward removing traces of the hand and the physical activity of the artist, and the other emphasises that activity.” - Thomas Houseago

Known for his monumental sculpture, Thomas Houseago (pronounced HOWZ-a-go), a major figure on the international art scene, has lived and worked in Los Angeles since 2003 (Houseago’s studio, beside the LA river, spans a full city block); represented by two blue-chip behemoths; the Gagosian Gallery and Hauser & Wirth, Houseago’s work is included in numerous museum and private collections. Often figurative, through such varied materials as wood, clay, bronze, concrete and Tuf-Cal (a synthetic alternative to plaster of Paris), Houseago’s paintings and sculptures convey at once both forcefulness and fragility. Born in Leeds in 1972, Houseago was born to a family of modest means, raised by a single mother who placed great importance on art, whether music, architecture or the visual arts. Traditional industries were collapsing, along with a hyper-macho culture that was prevalent in the north of England. Houseago credits the tragedy and vulnerability he saw in the male white psyche as a major influence on his work. At the age of 16, Houseago experienced two events that proved a catalyst in his development as an artist: the Late Picasso exhibition at the Tate Gallery, and the discovery of images from Joseph Beuys’ iconic performance How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (1965). Heavily influenced by Beuys, as well as others like Chris Burden, Houseago’s early works were largely performative. In 1991, at the age of 19, Houseago left home to embark upon what he describes as an “itinerant” education and career. After a foundation year at the Jacob Kramer College (now Leeds College of Art), Houseago received a grant to attend Central Saint Martins, in London (an event he considers “a miracle that would change his life”). After starting Saint Martins he took his inspiration from artists like Henry Moore, Francis Picabia and Jacob Epstein; all of whom were considered highly unfashionable at a time when Marcel Duchamp was regarded widely to be the most significant artist of the 20th century. Human forms gradually emerged from his sculpture, which was initially rather architectural in appearance.

Untitled Face (Pink Tongue #2/Green Face) plaster, acrylic, paint and wood (1995) by Thomas Houseago Photograph ©The London List

After three years in London he went on to De Ateliers, a studio program in Amsterdam (a period of hard-partying he describes as “eight years of lost weekends”), where his tutors included artists Marlene Dumas and Jan Dibbets. It was here that he truly developed his own style and executed his first large sculptures. After completing his studies — and having met his former wife, the American painter Amy Bessone — Houseago moved to Brussels where he attempted to live from his art. He enjoyed his first solo exhibition in 2002 at the Xavier Hufkens Gallery, having met the gallerist in the mid-1990s. Despite early commercial success, Houseago was bankrupted by an unexpected tax bill and so in 2003, delinquent in his rent, the artist decamped empty-handed to L.A. Without money to ship work — or even to hire a skip — Houseago cut up 20 of his finished sculptures and buried them in a field before leaving.

After several difficult years, including working in construction to make ends meet, Houseago succeeded in making a name for himself. In 2006, at the insistence of the young gallerist David Kordansky, Miami-based collectors Don and Mera Rubell — known as tastemakers in the art world — who were looking for work to include in Red Eye, a group show about the LA art scene, showed up at Houseago’s studio. In one fell swoop they bought every single piece they were shown and offered help finance Houseago’s bronze-casting expenses. “Thomas takes on all of history, with a vengeance,” Ms Rubell said. “He doesn’t apologize. He says, ‘I’m going to stand up to Picasso, and sit at the table with all the greats.’ And he does” (M. Rubell quoted in “Leaving the Monsters Behind” November 2014). Houseago recalls a dinner at the Rubbell’s where he was introduced to one of his heroes, the artists and fellow Angeleno Paul McCarthy, with his five-month-old daughter, Beatrice, strapped to his chest. Indeed it was through their patronage that Houseago found a circle of artists who shared similar interests, such Aaron Curry and Mark Grotjahn.

Portrait (Leeds), plaster, hemp, iron rebar, crayon and oil crayon (2009) by Thomas Houseago Photograph ©The London List

Almost Human, Houseago's first retrospective exhibition in France at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, follows the ongoing evolution of Houseago’s work from the 1990s to his latest productions, which mark a return to performative practice. “My practice sustains me,” Houseago told the New York Times. “If I don’t work, I get socially bizarre and agitated. I need my practice to kind of keep me good with the world.” The title of the exhibition — as is the case with many of the artists exhibitions — comes from a song, in this case Suzanne by Leonard Cohen. For Houseago, the monumental building housing the exhibition, the Alfred Auguste Janniot bas-reliefs of 1937, and the Eiffel Tower, are an integral part of Almost Human.

Through his use of noble materials, Houseago is part of a sculptural tradition—Henry Moore, Georg Baselitz, Bruce Nauman—focusing on the human figure in space. Throughout the exhibition, Houseago’s work is revealed through the representation of forms or figures that resemble the human presence. Often large in scale and displaying the traces of their making, cubism, futurism and various manifestations of Primitivism as well as popular culture are some of the references that inform his work. From the anthropomorphic sculptures of his early career via the sculpted and painted silhouettes of monsters up to Cast Studio (stage, chairs, bed, mound, cave, bath, grave) (2018) where only the trace of the artist remains, his work focuses on a vibrant inscription of the human figures within the space. In addition, the exhibition includes Striding Figure II (Ghost), a monumental work in bronze installed on the museum’s esplanade. The presentation —arranged over four rooms — is for most part chronological, representing both the artist's major geographical phases and intimate relationship with his materials (through July 14, 2019).

Ben Weaver

Untitled (Egg) Tuf-Cal, hemp, iron rebar, graphite, colour pencil and redwood (2015) by Thomas Houseago Photograph ©The London List

L’Homme Pressé, raw bronze, iron rebar and steel (2010-2011) by Thomas Houseago Photograph ©The London List