Haas Brothers' First Mid-Career Survey Opens At Blanton Museum

(MENAFN- USA Art News) A major survey of works by the Haas Brothers, titled“Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley,” has opened at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin. This marks the first mid-career retrospective for twin brothers Nikolai and Simon Haas, who are natives of Austin. The exhibition gathers over 80 works created during 15 years of their studio practice, which began by producing props for Lady Gaga videos and furniture for Donatella Versace.

Organized by the Cranbrook Art Museum and curated by Laura Mott, the show explores the duo's distinctive approach that blends art and design. Its title,“Uncanny Valley,” references roboticist Masahiro Mori's 1970 theory on human affection for humanoid machines. Simon Haas has stated his preference for“cuteness” when creating entities that are equally strange or endearing.

Among the featured pieces is King Dong (2016), an eight-foot-tall, 10-foot-wide creature draped in Icelandic sheepskin. Despite its bronze fangs, it is described as more friendly than fearsome. According to the exhibition catalog, a specific bronze body part on the sculpture represents“a self-critique by Niki of his own oversized ego.” Another work, Bruce Willis Beyonclé (2016), is a five-and-a-half-inch-tall piece featuring porcelain slip accretions, evoking organic forms like fungi or cave formations. The Strawberry Tree (2024), previously shown at the Nasher Sculpture Center, stands 15 feet tall and nearly 18 feet wide, with a dusky blue-patinated bronze trunk. Its leaves and vines are crafted from glass beads, strung according to a 26-rule“alphabet” Simon Haas spent five years developing after collaborating with the Monkeybiz collective in Cape Town. These bead arrangements reportedly create a Fibonacci sequence.

“Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley” is on view through January 17, 2027, at the Blanton Museum of Art, located at 200 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin, TX.

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Source: Observer Arts

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