Works Exhibited
About
I don’t see being an artist as a heavy burden. I think it’s an artist’s obligation to emotionally connect.
—Thomas Houseago
Gagosian is pleased to announce ABUNDANCE, an exhibition of new still-life and landscape paintings by Thomas Houseago. This is the artist’s second exhibition with the gallery in Hong Kong, following Psychedelic Brothers – Drawn Paintings in 2016.
Abundance Paintings is a new body of work produced en plein air, and in a new studio in Malibu, California, which reflects on cosmic and spiritual interconnectedness and the transcendental power of nature. The works’ titles and expressive imagery evoke ocean waves and the flora of Malibu at sunrise and sunset, with suns, moons, rocks, and skies rendered in vibrant color and undulating lines.
Houseago first achieved widespread recognition through his original and vigorous approach to the subject of the human body. Utilizing mediums associated with classical and modernist sculpture alongside less traditional materials like rebar and hemp, he builds monumental figures whose surfaces and structures reveal the processes of their making. In works on canvas and paper that he describes as a cross between “drawing and mapping,” Houseago also explores the emotional and spatial power of saturated color and dynamic form. ABUNDANCE sees him further extend this aspect of his practice.
我認為作為藝術家並非一種沉重的負擔，而藝術家有責任創造情感共鳴。
—托馬斯‧豪斯雅戈 (Thomas Houseago)
高古軒欣然呈獻「豐盛」展覽，展出托馬斯‧豪斯雅戈的全新靜物和風景畫，為繼2016年的「Psychedelic Brothers – Drawn Paintings」展覽後藝術家於香港高古軒舉辦的第二場展覽。
《豐盛畫作》系列(Abundance Paintings)是豪斯雅戈於戶外和加州馬里布新工作室創作的全新畫作，探討宇宙與心靈相通，以及大自然的超凡力量等主題。作品以鮮明色彩和起伏的線條描繪太陽、月亮、岩石和天空，其標題和饒富表現力的意象令人想起日出和日落時分馬里布的海浪和植物。
豪斯雅戈最初以充滿活力的原創手法探索人體的主題，備受肯定。他運用與古典和現代主義雕塑相關的媒介，以及鋼筋和麻等較為另類的物料，創造出巨型的人像，作品的表面和結構均揭示了創作過程。在豪斯雅戈形容為結合「繪畫和繪圖」的油畫和紙上作品中，他亦探索了濃厚色彩和動感形態所蘊藏的情感和空間力量。而「豐盛」展覽更反映他進一步鑽研此範疇。
於香港展出的作品展示了古典大師以及現代東歐與北歐藝術家對豪斯雅戈的影響，包括荷蘭黃金時代畫家、孟克(Munch)和梵高(Van Gogh)。他亦重視即興創作的概念，經常於創作時播放音樂家約翰‧柯川(John Coltrane)的現場表演錄音。豪斯雅戈也受十三世紀佛教僧侶牧溪（法常）和中國畫家馬遠（約1160–1225年）的繪畫啟發，而日本詩人西行法師（1118–90年）和松尾芭蕉（1644–94年）、中國詩人李白（701–62年）和王維（699–759年 ）與中國古代哲學家老子等人的著作，亦成為他的靈感來源。
在《宇宙物件（獻給亞布）》(Cosmic Objects (for Abe))和《獻給朱利安‧山德斯的宇宙物件（致我的約克郡兄弟）》(Cosmic Objects for Julian Sands (to My Yorkshire Brother))（均於2023 年作）中，豪斯雅戈描繪了花朵、貝殼、骷髏骨和骷髏形狀的器皿等物品，再次刻劃看似極多元化的物料和創作過程之間的連繫。每個元素也充滿生命力，使它們的尺寸、來源甚至功能上的差異都顯得微不足道，而這些平凡的物件與《宇宙（獻給亞布）》(The Cosmos (for Abe))和《鬼月（獻給A.W.）》(Ghost Moon for A.W.)中散佈於天空的各種天體也引起同樣的共鳴。藝術家的《幻象畫作》系列(Vision Paintings) 探索了他對大自然修復力量的描繪與現藏於比利時皇家美術博物館的賈克-路易‧大衛(Jacques-Louis David)名作《馬拉之死》（The Death of Marat，1793年作）之間的特殊對應關係，而「豐盛」展出的作品則以更宏觀的角度審視文化與環境、敘事與氛圍之間產生的更強大力量。這些作品既體現豪斯雅戈對宇宙規模和能量的敬畏之情，同時亦強調於日常生活之中重新發現得來不易的美好和快樂。
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Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Fall 2021
The Fall 2021 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Damien Hirst’s Reclining Woman (2011) on its cover.
Thomas Houseago: Encountering Rodin
Thomas Houseago and Amélie Simier, director of the Musée Rodin, Paris, talk with Gagosian director Richard Calvocoressi about contemporary sculpture and its foundation in the radical forms of Auguste Rodin.
Work in Progress
Thomas Houseago
With preparations for Houseago’s Los Angeles exhibition in progress, Deborah McLeod brings us a glimpse inside the artist’s studio.
