ON VIEW

(b. Leeds, United Kingdom, 1972)

Thomas Houseago’s sculptures, which range from monumental to smaller-scale works, have a striking ability to simultaneously convey strength and fragility. The artist uses materials associated with classical and modernist sculpture such as carved wood, clay, plaster and bronze, as well as the less traditional (steel rods, concrete and hessian), to emphatically reveal the creative processes that drive his practice. While Houseago’s oeuvre can be seen as a continuation of a historical sculptural tradition, the unusual combinations of materials, references to popular culture, and the interplay between two-and three-dimensions all serve to challenge the hierarchy inherent within visual forms and the materials and values with which they are associated. His often reductive interpretations of the human figure convey a striking sense of weight and anatomical structure. By tapping into the nuanced legibility of the human form, Houseago’s figures oscillate between states of power and of vulnerability.

Houseago studied at Jacob Kramer College, Leeds, England from 1990 to 1991, received a BA in 1994 from Saint Martin’s School of Art, London, and studied at De Ateliers, Amsterdam, from 1994 to 1996. Recent solo exhibitions include “Thomas Houseago: Lying Figure,” The High Line, New York (2012–13); “As I Went Out One Morning,” Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York (2013); “Thomas Houseago: Striding Figure/Standing Figure,” Galleria Borghese, Rome (2013); “Thomas Houseago,” Leeds Art Gallery, England (2014); “Thomas Houseago: Studies '98–'14,” Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Netherlands (2014); and “Masks (Pentagon),” Rockefeller Center Plaza, New York (2015). His work was included in the 2010 Whitney Biennial. Houseago has collaborated with the New York Public Art Fund on two public sculptures: Statuesque (2010) and Masks (Pentagon) (2015).

Houseago lives and works in Malibu, California.