Thomas Houseago, Lying Figure
Friday, May 18, 2012 – Thursday, March 14, 2013
On the High Line at Little West 12th Street
High Line Art, presented by Friends of the High Line, is pleased to announce that Thomas Houseago’s sculpture, Lying Figure, will be installed on the High Line under The Standard, New York at Little West 12th Street. Houseago’s work will make its debut on Friday, May 18, 2012, and remain on view through Thursday, March 14, 2013.
Known for using materials like wood, clay, plaster, steel, and bronze, Houseago creates monumental sculptures that reveal the process of their making through unique details – the varying texture of a molding, the hidden creases within a cast – despite their imposing size and towering forms. His sculptures also incorporate drawing in the form of sketches on plaster and wood panels. Houseago’s work explores abstract lines and figurative forms, and in doing so he joins a long tradition of sculptors that spans from Giacometti to Picasso, engaging viewers with qualities that are at once impressive and enchanting.
For the High Line, Houseago presents Lying Figure, a 15-foot-long bronze sculpture of a headless giant resting on its elbows on the wooden rail ties between the High Line’s original rail tracks. As the third project in the HIGH LINE COMMISSIONS series for spring, 2012, Houseago’s Lying Figure will juxtapose Lilliput, the group exhibition that debuted on Thursday, April 19. Lilliput takes its title from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and conjures a magical world populated by fairy tale creatures, mysterious idols, and dreamlike landscapes. Houseago’s Lying Figure will introduce the presence of a giant – the park’s own Gulliver – into Lilliput’s diminutive sculptures installed along the park’s pathway and amidst the plants.
“I am excited to welcome Thomas Houseago’s great sculpture Lying Figure to the High Line,” says Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr Curator and Director of High Line Art. “Thomas is one of the most exciting sculptors among his generation and I look forward to seeing this sculpture installed between one of the High Line’s favorite features: the old train tracks”.
About the Artist
Thomas Houseago was born in 1972 in Leeds, UK. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Houseago has been the subject of solo exhibitions at international venues such as Centre international d'art et du paysage de l'île de Vassivière, France; Museum Abteiberg, Germany; and the Ballroom Marfa, Texas; among others. His work has also been included in a number of group exhibitions at venues such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Chapelle de l’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France; and the Stedelijk Museum, The Netherlands.
Support
This High Line Art Commission is presented by Friends of the High Line and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. High Line Art Commissions are made possible by Donald R. Mullen, Jr., additional support from Vital Projects Fund, Inc. This program is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties.
     
