Thomas Houseago
In his forthcoming exhibition with Xavier Hufkens, Thomas Houseago (b. 1972, Leeds, UK) presents a new body of large-scale sculptures alongside a monumental, immersive sculptural installation that transforms the gallery’s first floor. Entitled Cosmic Snail (Shell Temple), this ambitious installation invites visitors to step inside the work itself—an exploration of form and space that also unfolds as a deeply personal and contemplative experience. Through its scale and intricacy, Cosmic Snail (Shell Temple) extends an invitation to share in the artist’s own inward journey, offering a space for solitude and reflection.
Renowned for his raw, expressive approach to the human figure and his reinvention of sculptural tradition, Houseago works across materials and scales to explore the tension between vulnerability and monumentality. His practice bridges the physical and the psychological, the mythic and the deeply personal.
Complementing the exhibition is a screening of Andrew Dominik’s recent documentary, I Don’t Work for Peanuts I Work for God, which offers an intimate perspective on Houseago’s creative process and his ongoing dialogue with art, music, and personal transformation.
Thomas Houseago (b. 1972, Leeds, UK) studied art at London’s Central St Martin’s college in the early 1990s before moving to Amsterdam to study at de Ateliers. He subsequently lived in Brussels for several years, where he had his first solo show with Xavier Hufkens in 1998, which launched the beginning of a long-term collaboration. In 2004, he moved to Los Angeles where he continues to live and work. Selected list of recent exhibitions include TANK Shanghai, China (2023); Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France (2022); Sara Hildén Museum, Tampere, Finland (2022); Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels (2021); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (2019); Royal Academy, London, UK (2019); Le Consortium, Dijon, France (2015–2016); and Rockefeller Plaza, New York, USA (2015).
