Thomas Houseago Recovery Works

Drawing and painting has always been a fundamental part of Houseago’s artistic practice, both as an aid to the creation of sculpture and as a way of processing his innermost feelings. The roots of this can be traced back to his childhood, when drawing was both a lifeline and a survival tactic. Houseago has also spoken of how, in his youth, he would experience a sense of detachment that caused him to see his surroundings in terms of patterns. A similar quality can be detected in his mature works on paper, which he describes as ‘charts’ and ‘daydreams’. Music is another constant in Houseago’s life and functions in an identical way, being an escape route, a solace and a source of inspiration. In this, he acknowledges the influence of his father who was passionate about music. A formative memory, for example, is of his dad playing the psychedelic Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles on repeat. It is perhaps no coincidence, therefore, that as Houseago excavates his past we see a surge of intense, vivid colours and swirling semi-abstract patterns. Recovery Works not only bears witness to Houseago’s discovery of a new way of processing physical energy, therefore, but also to the indivisible connection between music and art in his oeuvre.

Thomas Houseago (b. 1972) was born in Leeds, England. He received a BA in 1994 from Saint Martin’s School of Art, London, and studied at De Ateliers, Amsterdam, from 1994 to 1996. His work was included in the 2010 Whitney Biennial. Recent solo exhibitions include a large outdoor installation for the annual Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London (2019); Almost Human, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2019); Lovers, Le Consortium, l’Académie Conti, Vosne-Romanée, France (2018); the monumental Masks (Pentagon), Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY, USA (2015) and Thomas Houseago: Studies ‘98–‘14, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague (2014).