The artist Thomas Houseago received help for his recovery from well-known friends. Now they have come to support him with an exhibition in Finland.
It’s all about friendship and honesty in the face of adversity.
– 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 artist was deeply touched by this innocent friendship. Life began to win. New art began to emerge.
The trio’s exhibition in Tampere
The results can now be seen in Tampere at the opening of Sara Hildén’s exhibition. Getting sculptor Thomas Houseago’s exhibition to Tampere at the Sara Hildén Art Museum is a big deal.
– Northern nature has appealed to him deeply.
The exhibition is made even more surprising by the fact that, for the first time, the art of two world stars is also included. Actor Brad Pitt and musician Nick Cave came to an exhibition in Tampere on Saturday.
The morning visit has been a big secret. Houseago presents his sculptures and paintings in the exhibition alongside Nick Cave’s ceramic figurines and Brad Pitt’s sculptures. The works are created through interaction between the trio.
World stars nervous
Cave and Pitt are now exhibiting their visual art for the first time ever. They were visibly nervous, even shy, when they appeared to the small number of media at the Sara Hildén museum.
Cave said that pulling a big gig is nothing compared to showing your own personal art for the first time.
– This is really unnerving. At concerts, I have control over the outcome. In the exhibition, people stand in front of the statues and have their own opinions, says Cave.
– I don’t really know what to say, but I’ll do my best, Brad Pitt said.
Trauma pushed to the surface
Sculptor Thomas Houseago’s childhood in Britain was violent and traumatic. Her father’s death a couple of years ago plunged her into deep post-traumatic stress disorder. The artist, whose works sold for millions, was unable to create art, and a long recovery began.
The trio’s exhibition tells about how friends can save at the worst moment. Thomas Houseago, who lives in Los Angeles, talked about his recovery a year ago in an Artnet publication.
Pitt and Jolie’s divorce has been discussed in court, Cave lost his child in an accident.
Both Cave and Pitt say that art is about being honest with life. Pitt talks about self-reflection and says that he has thought about failure in relationships.
– I have taken a radical inventory of myself and thought about where I have hurt others and moments that have gone wrong, Pitt says.
Trust was built between a group of men
The Tampere exhibition Thomas Houseago – WE celebrates liberation from the isolation caused by the pandemic and personal recovery.
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 does not have to be good or bad. That’s the act, Houseago says.
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.
Trust has given birth not only to friendship but also to new art.
Barter of song and drawing
How concretely has the friendship manifested itself?
Nick Cave made a deal with the artist that he would write a song if Thomas Houseago drew him a drawing of a flower.
Houseago says he didn’t think he was sending a song. One morning, however, Nick Cave sent a poem to Houseago. This became a song for Cave’s album.
Thomas Houseago started making art again. Alongside the sculptures, large paintings began to appear. He did them outdoors as part of nature, and this was important to his recovery.
Brad Pitt, on the other hand, came with Houseago on his visit to Europe. He promised to support his friend all the time. Among other things, the duo just rested for a week in France, talked and made art.
The same closeness was found in Tampere.
– It has been nice to be here. We had a great spot on the lake and had a campfire at night. It feels right to be here, Brad Pitt described his visit to Tampere.
Strength and fragility
According to Thomas Houseago, his characters are broken. The works have strength and fragility at the same time.
Houseago uses plaster, iron, bronze and wood as its materials. For the exhibition in Tampere, he has worked on works of redwood.
Nick Cave also has references to Munch’s shadow.
Nick Cave’s work series depicts the life of the devil in 17 scenes. It includes 17 individual figures hand-sculpted, painted and glazed by Cave in England.
According to Cave, the series is about forgiveness.
He saw Victorian statues of his grandmother. He also made pottery for his mother, who loved it. Nick Cave believes that of all the art he made, his mother loved the statues he made as a child the most.
When his mother died two years ago, Cave started making statues the same day.
Buried needs
Brad Pitt’s sculptures are also on public display for the first time. Among other things, there is a plaster panel using molds made of the human body, which depicts a story-like shooting scene.
Pitt presents house-shaped sculptures made of transparent silicone placed on a pedestal, shot with different caliber guns. Pitt fired the bullets himself.
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.
One of the most personal works depicts a coffin with buried necessities. Needs are looking for a way out from somewhere and somehow.
The exhibition opens on Sunday.