Showing posts with label Sara Hilden Art Museum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sara Hilden Art Museum. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 21, 2022


Random Fuzzy


What he chose to exhibit serves as an accompaniment to his slow-drip, drawn-out confession.  They depict his dark, tortured, macabre thoughts in the aftermath of the incident (the earliest piece was dated 2017).  He said he spent years with a low grade depression but there may have been periods where he teetered perilously close to major depression, if not actually lingered there. 

Houseago told the Finnish writers "almost everyone has experienced some trauma and tries to hide it. Art is a tool to release trauma. Recovery and hope are the central message of the exhibition."

It was not quite Brad's message. He was all about broad references to past actions which he has not yet publicly acknowledged or accounted for. He spoke of his guilt, his missteps, hubris, "those I may have hurt and those moments I have just gotten wrong."  He never alluded to trauma, recovery or hope. Accountability comes first and this is the start.

From ft
“Our mutual misery became comic,” “And out of this misery came a flame of joy in my life. I always wanted to be a sculptor; I’d always wanted to try it.”
Pitt then introduced Houseago to Cave, taking him to see Andrew Dominik’s 2016 documentary One More Time With Feeling – about the making of Skeleton Tree, the album created in the aftermath of the death of Arthur, Cave’s teenage son.

After this, says Cave, “we started to meet up as a group – a weird, diverse collection of people who would sit around a table on weekends”. The dinners were joined by the likes of Dominik (who recently directed the film Blonde, produced by Pitt’s production company Plan B, and with a soundtrack by Cave and his longtime collaborator Warren Ellis), director Spike Jonze and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. “To go out and talk to people freely about things, that was something new to me,” continues Cave.

“It’s just exhausting to be anything but who you are,” You have to understand, at least where I grew up, we’re more the Clint Eastwood character; you hold everything within, you’re capable, you can deal with anything, you don’t show weakness. I see that in my dad and the older generations of actors, and, man, it’s exhausting. As I get older, I find such a comfort in friendships where you can be [completely yourself], and I want that to extend in the outer world. What people make of it: I’m fine.

“It’s all about self-reflection,” “I was looking at my own life and really concentrating on owning my own shit: where was I complicit in failures in my relationships, where have I mis-stepped. For me, it was born out of ownership of what I call a radical inventory of self, getting really brutally honest with me, and taking account of those I may have hurt.”

“I find I have to walk with the pain I experience, and I have to walk with the joy, the beauty,

Brad told GQ in 2017,
"If I'm not creating something, doing something, putting it out there, then I'll just be creating scenarios of fiery demise in my mind. You know, a horrible end. And so I've been going to a friend's sculpting studio, spending a lot of time over there."
What he did was enshrine those scenarios -- his guilt, self-loathing, and suicidal thoughts -- in plaster, silicone and bronze. You cannot look at his works, read their titles, and not see a troubled individual in a lot of pain.  He chose to put these specific pieces on display for a reason. He / they have made it through to the other side and are ready to talk about it.

One of Brad's closest friends, Chris Cornell, committed suicide in 2017. Houseago told the Finnish writers:
"van Gogh cut off his ear, I tried to smash my skull with a stone"
It makes the self-harm undercurrent of Brad's pieces more unsettling.  What he told GQ caused some concern and the AP followed up,
He’s getting through it, he assured. “I’m not suicidal or something,” Pitt said, laughing. “There’s still much beauty in the world and a lot of love. And a lot of love to be given."
He credits Angelina.  He wasn't suicidal because he had a beauty and her love. And he loved her right back.

Angelina had said,
"Life takes many turns. Sometimes you get hurt, you see those you love in pain, and you can’t be as free and open as your spirit desires."
She protected him as best she could and is still protecting him.


The assembled Finnish reporters and art critics invited to the exhibit's unveiling and press conference on Sept. 17 wrote (translated so may not be his exact words):  "My ego has not been in my favor.  Every time I've gotten into trouble, it's been because of hubris."  "They're about my guilt in failures in my previous relationship," "he emphasizes the personal nature of most of his works." "Pitt doesn't mention any names, but repeatedly refers to past relationships, to guilt, and to "radical introspection."

His exhibit sets the stage for a more explicit mea culpa. 

This again illustrates that their true personal thoughts quoted directly are a world apart from all the wrangling.   He said in his new interview with Vogue 
"When we first got here, I mean, I never thought about having a winery either! I just wanted a beautiful base in this area and it happened to have a winery."
contradicts his own complaint's main contention that Miraval was always intended to be a business.  From the amended complaint:
Miraval was in need of renovation when Pitt and Jolie purchased it in 2008, particularly if the grounds were to support a viable wine business and serve as the flagship property used to advertise and promote that business
What’s in the filings are, to use their term, false narratives -- BS by any other name.

The Vogue interview also gives one reason why bringing in a strategic partner who could help manage wine distribution and sales was an attractive idea.
"how are we spending our time, why are we grinding so much, what are we dedicating our lives to? And I think that family and friends at the end of the day is all that matters."


He calls his studio Studio BeeP.





A Finnish reporter wrote, "The most personal of Pitt's sculptures is Slave To Our Vices (2017), where he himself is in the vise of vices."  But the photo that accompanied the article, which was not identified, was of Aiming At You I Saw Me But It Was Too Late This Time (2022). It took a while before I saw a photo of Slave to Our Vices and proof that a 2nd, entirely separate work in plaster existed.   Perhaps because the piece shows him tightening the vise and squeezing his skull, making it the most disturbing of an already disturbing set, none of the Finnish sites posted a photo of it despite its stated importance.  Slave is a wholly sculpted piece that does not rely on using molds and I think is a better gauge of his actual sculpting skill. 








Another Finnish reporter wrote, "One of the most personal works depicts a coffin" in Buried Needs (2022).  Buried Needs has molds of parts of him arranged like bas reliefs all over a bronze rectangular "coffin."  It shows him kicking, punching and screaming in an apparent effort to break out.  It's fairly easy to guess that the coffin is the safeguards imposed on them.  It makes his palpable joy through the European and American premieres of Bullet Train this summer all the more noteworthy.  He spoke with  British Vogue last week and said of Miraval:   
"This past spring was special. We had a good five or six weeks here. The stories you hear about Provence in the spring, why people come here. Well, it’s real. And I can’t quite describe it, other than the freshness in the air, the light... it’s just a real feeling of peace and harmony and the nights are so soothing. In summer you get the symphony of frogs, they lull you to sleep."
He then went on to say
"I have a lot of artist friends from different disciplines, and they were here this spring, we were having a laugh. One was working on his music [at Studio Miraval], one was painting, one was designing a clothing line, and so on and so forth. They’d go off to their respective corners to work on their respective things, and then we’d come back here to cross-pollinate over a meal, or a game of petanques, in the spot we’re sitting in now. Making an artist community has always been the idea here, and it’s really nice to see that happen."
Having his artist friends over brings to fruition their long gestating plans to make "the heart of the estate a place dedicated to the arts" and it was "really nice" but it was not what made this past spring special.  Without Blood started filming in Italy in June.  Of course, Brad was also dancing around the question "Do you have any special memories of Miraval?"  The writer may have been hoping for some mention of their wedding.  Which leads me to an edit to the Vogue interview as it crossed the Atlantic:

British Vogue
We’re 25 minutes into an exclusive interview with the actor, producer, philanthropist, wine producer, and newly-minted skincare brand founder at Château Miraval, the sprawling property and vineyard in the South of France that Pitt bought with his ex-wife Angelina Jolie in 2012, and after a few quick-fire questions we arrive at the inevitable part of any skincare founder interview: “What’s your regimen?”

Vogue
We’re 25 minutes into a world’s first interview with the actor, producer, philanthropist, wine producer, and newly minted skin care brand founder at Château Miraval, the sprawling property and vineyard in the South of France that Pitt bought with Angelina Jolie in 2012, and after a few quick-fire questions we arrive at the inevitable part of any skin care founder interview: “What’s your regimen?”
Curious considering the wrangling(s) and nearly everyone else has referred to them as former spouses.  Brad did give that little shake of the head when he said, "I guess I am (a bachelor)."


Miraval Provence.com (ca 2017 - 2019)


Brad's Vogue interview ended with,
What’s the future looking like for you?
The older I get the more I think about quality of life, and time expenditure, and I sure would like to point it more in this direction. I think after lockdown it seemed to be on a lot of people’s minds, like, how are we spending our time, why are we grinding so much, what are we dedicating our lives to? And I think that family and friends at the end of the day is all that matters.
He would like to point more of his life and time "in this direction" and dedicated to family and friends.  Recall what Angelina said about Miraval "as a place where she believed they 'would grow old' together." But they have since acquired Seaward which, now that Miraval is being opened up as an "artist community," affords them greater privacy.









Four of his nine pieces in the exhibit are bullet-riddled silicone houses forming a series called Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound to the House (2017) 2022.  Finnish journalists noted that SIGSW is a term used by U.S. police to describe suicide. 



His voice was tremulous and he stammered as he explained the houses meaning, "taking account of those I may have hurt and those moments I have just gotten wrong."  The cross complaint noted his “drunken and abusive behavior on the September 2016 flight that precipitated Jolie’s filing for divorce” and "Pitt also worked with disgraced predator and rapist Harvey Weinstein, even though the press has reported that Jolie disclosed to Pitt that Weinstein had assaulted her in the late 1990s and had urged him not to associate with Weinstein." This is his most direct acknowledgment of those so far.

video


What do you want to say? Against violence?

"No again it's called... I don't...to me it's all about self reflection. It's about how, how...again where have I gotten it wrong in my relationships, where have I misstepped. Where am I complicit?

It's really, for me it's borne out of ownership of really what I call a radical inventory of self. Getting really brutally honest with me and where...taking account of those I may have hurt and those I, you know, moments I have just gotten wrong."

He told the same to ft

It’s all about self-reflection,”“I was looking at my own life and really concentrating on owning my own shit: where was I complicit in failures in my relationships, where have I mis-stepped. For me, it was born out of ownership of what I call a radical inventory of self, getting really brutally honest with me, and taking account of those I may have hurt.” 






He made the tableau Aiming At You I Saw Me But It Was Too Late This Time (2022) using the same technique he applied on the coffin this time with whole imprints of him in plaster.  The work captures the action sequence as his two likenesses face off, shoot and appear to kill each other. It is another allegory to his self destructive habits.  He told ft "an inner conflict”  It can probably be considered a companion piece to SIGSW Houses which showed the bullets while this presented the action.










There were also porcelain candlesticks one of which he showed the writer for GQ, Candle Holders for Loved Ones (Made in the time of Covid)  His only piece that had an obvious relevance to the exhibit's central message of hope and recovery.







The pieces could end up in Miraval.  Scattered around the artists' enclave.



Some photos and videos are from Instagram posts shared by deBranne Treu (@debrannetreu) that were used by TMZ and other reports before she deleted them.  She is the wife of Jared Land @instajarred of Red camera and she wrote in her since deleted post "I cannot express how proud I am of my husband's best friend. As they have been creating many long days and nights together over the years, I hope this helps encourage my husband to find time for his FIRST ART SHOW!!"   Lamb himself posted simply:





The text that follows are lifted from translations of various Finnish reports tweeted by the Museum. Tweets included below. 


According to Houseago, almost everyone has experienced some trauma and tries to hide it.  Art is a tool to release trauma.  Recovery and hope are the central message of the exhibition.

Art doesn't have to be good or bad. That's the act, Houseago says.

It's all about friendship and honesty in the face of adversity.

Thomas Houseago , who lives in America, is a well-known sculptor, but a couple of years ago he was the end of everything. Art was not born in any way.

Then the guys came to the rescue. And not just any guys. Musician Nick Cave enticed Houseago to draw. First a flower, then something else. Actor Brad Pitt made candles for the sculptor because he was afraid at night.

Brad Pitt made me these candles and said light them and he'll be with me at night. It was the kindest and most loving gesture. He offered symbolic protection.

The unconditional friendship touched the artist deeply. Life began to win. New art began to emerge.

Nick Cave says that the friends belong to a tight-knit group of about six or seven people who meet regularly. They usually eat and talk freely about anything. Both Pitt and Cave have frequented Houseago's studio, and the artist has encouraged them to sculpt.


video



What was originally intended to be a solo exhibition became the group exhibition WE, a celebration of friendship. Specifically, two such – one with Pitt ("a brother" according to Houseago) and the other with rock star Nick Cave, who here debuts as a visual artist with a focus on ceramics.

"My ego has not been in my favor.   Every time I've gotten into trouble, it's been because of hubris," says Brad Pitt.

Although he says he is shy about them, he emphasizes the personal nature of most of his works.

The most personal of Pitt's sculptures is Slave To Our Vices (2017), where he himself is in the vise of vices.



Pitt, who has decades of experience in media management, is more concrete as he stands in front of his sculptures that include distorted imprints of himself and gun shots captured in platinum silicone. Pitt fired the bullets himself. - These bullets are shot with the gun from the movie Se7en.

Pitt doesn't mention any names, but repeatedly refers to past relationships, to guilt, and to "radical introspection." The installations pierced by violent gunshot wounds are christened according to the U.S. police's euphemism for suicide: Self-inflicted Gunshot Wound to the House.

The works are still images of the bullet's trajectory and its destructive power. Pitt describes with his works how pain and violence can exist inside even a nice house.

"They're about my guilt in failures in my previous relationship," Pitt says. Then he smiles his movie star smile and gestures towards the first in the series.


video











One of the most personal works depicts a coffin with Buried Needs. Needs are looking for a way out from somewhere and somehow.






"Aiming at You I Saw Me But it was Too Late this Time" (2022) a plaster panel using molds made of the human body





Another house structure – Pitt’s first ever sculpture, entitled House A Go Go (2017) – is a 46 cm tall composite of timber off-cuts.






The museum announced in advance that it will open the exhibition of sculptor Thomas Houseago, but on Saturday the museum announced the entire list of artists: in addition to Houseago, the exhibition will also show works by his friends, Brad Pitt, better known as an actor, and musician Nick Cave. This is their debut as sculptors.

All three artists were present at the exhibition's press conference on Saturday. The museum had a big world atmosphere when security guards walked around the museum and assistants revolved around the stars, says Harri Mäcklin, art critic at Helsingin Sanomat.

Next to the polished Houseago, Pitt and Cave are cautious, almost timid in acting as visual artists in front of the gathered group of representatives of the press. They both said they don't really know what to do in the exhibition press and what to say about the works."



According to the museum, Houseago's exhibition "celebrates liberation from the isolation caused by the pandemic and also personal recovery".

In interviews, Houseago has talked about the breakdown that led to the death of his abusive father in 2019, and the long therapy process that followed, in which friends like Pitt and Cave played a significant role.

Now the artist wants to emphasize the good news of collective creativity instead of individualistic artistry and share his exhibition with his friends.

"They talked about how this has been a community project for them, and how they have influenced each other's creative processes," says Mäcklin.

Movie star Brad Pitt says he met Houseago more than six years ago and talks about the mutual connection. Pitt says Cave's music and Houseago's art inspire him. Houseago pushes and encourages his friends, but interaction is all important.

"I think we need each other," Pitt says.

"In all of their speeches, it came out that making the sculptures has been somehow therapeutic - significantly more personal than the work that Cave and Pitt do for a living."















Thomas Houseago: Weekend at El Cap, 2022. Photo: Houseago Studio



‘I Didn’t Think I’d Survive’: Sculptor Thomas Houseago on His Mental Breakdown, Recovery, and How Facing Trauma Transformed His Art



Sept. 18

Small plane for a short hop to Miraval






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