Creature collection installation featuring Jeff Koons’s Metallic Venus, 2010-12; photo by Ben Gibbs, courtesy of The Broad
50+ works by artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Condo, Ellen Gallagher, Leon Golub, Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer, Thomas Houseago, Takashi Murakami, Tony Oursler, Susan Rothenberg explore the human and the animal…
Ranging from artworks that examine the human body, to others that allude to a physical presence outside of the artwork itself, Creature offers an array of lenses through which to view the human experience, some scientifically based and others drawing inspiration from cultural representations of how living things change over time.
“This installation brings together collection artworks that explore the ongoing redefinition of what it means to be human, in moral, experiential and physical dimensions,” said Joanne Heyler, founding director of The Broad. “The organizing principle led not only to collection artwork depicting the human figures, but also to artworks that provoke deeper reflection on states of human consciousness, for example, how creatures mirror their creators and vice versa. We are excited to present this facet of the collection to our visitors.”
At the entrance to the installation will be Los Angeles artist Thomas Houseago’s towering bronze sculpture, Giant Figure (Cyclops), 2011, measuring nearly 15 feet tall, and shown for the first time in the U.S. The imposing and monumental figure simultaneously conveys power and vulnerability through Houseago’s signature totemic forms which reinvent Modernist approaches to the figure. The Creature collection is happening at The Broad, right now.