Thomas Houseago: A Monumental Return in NYC at Levy Gorvy Dayan

by Laura Lati | Oct 11, 2024 | Columns

Thomas Houseago at Lévy Gorvy Dayan in NYC © Laura Lati

For their first Fall season in the new sumptuous townhouse, on East 64th street in Manhattan, Levy Gorvy Dayan gallery could not have found a more impressive show. From the windows of the gallery and into the imposing white doors opening on a Minotaur, I was blown away by Night Sea Journey, the first solo show of Thomas Houseago (B.1972, England) in New York in ten years.

The new works tell a story of breakdown and trauma that affected the artist in 2019, but are also a tale of creation, and re-creation. Giant chimerical sculptures made of redwood, plaster, steel and bronze and every-day domestic objects are spread over three floors of the gallery. The monumental figures represent primal forms of humans and animals, such as minotaurs, owls and snakes. The sculpted objects are in the shape of still lifes, from eggs, knives, spoons and coffee pots, to flowers and fruit, inviting us to have breakfast.

Thomas Houseago at Lévy Gorvy Dayan in NYC © Laura Lati

Uncanny and sinister for some, pure and hopeful for others, the works are about a healing journey and “this exhibition is dedicated to the immortal, beautiful healing spirit of Danny Smith” in the words of Houseago. Frieze paintings over three walls, a Cave with the artist’s life path from Leeds to Malibu, moonlit abstract landscapes, a large skull profile and sublime tapestries sunsets, reflect darkness and light. The abyss, mourning and fragility can lead to, as well as the rebirth and power extracted from nature, are intensely expressed.

Thomas Houseago started painting in a more recent stage of his career, and in fact, the paintings are exhibited in the back rooms of the first and second floor. On the fifth floor, you find one brass chair with heart-shaped flowers immersed into room-spanning tapestries, lively paintings with vigorous brush, and explosive energy and colors. These hues are a direct throwback of the Malibu, sunny nature and seascapes where the artist’s studio is established today.

Thomas Houseago at Lévy Gorvy Dayan in NYC © Laura Lati

The show ends around Halloween and the skeletons, teeth and spooky shapes found on the canvases of Houseago certainly merge us in the season’s mood. Even more so, the building across is visible from the first floor’s large windows, with its ghostly clowns carousels and swings lighting the whole block.

Houseago’s works have been exhibited in extravagant venues such as the Storm King Art Center and the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, however, the stateliness of the Levy Gorvy Dayan townhouse gave his oeuvre a whole new dimension.