Exhibition | The Haas Brothers’ ‘Stonely Planet’ Takes Over Aspen

ASPEN, Colorado––LA-based artists, twin brothers Nikolai and Simon Haas, elevate fantastical world building to a physical dimension. At the intersection of design and art, the Haas Brothers imbue a sense of boundless imagination and exploration; they’re the wizards and authors of their bestiary as they spawn quirky, gilded furries and psychedelic flora.

Their openness to experimentation and general curiosity has resulted in a wide-ranging visual lexicon that incorporates a spectrum of materials from stone and porcelain to brass and bronze to self-invented resins and polyurethanes. The Brothers’s dynamic practice is characterized by technical precision—supported by their active collaborations with an array of artisans—and a whimsical sense of humor that speaks to a universal audience.

That’s especially apparent in their latest exhibition Stonely Planet at Marianne Boesky West in Aspen, Colorado (June 20 – August 25, 2018), in which the brothers have altered a seemingly luxurious interior into the den of a mythic creature  The gallery writes these new works are a return to their creative roots of stone carving––a skill the twins first learned from their father, artist Berthold Haas.

Working with Pele de Tigre, a Portuguese marble, The Brothers will present a series of monumental objects in the gallery’s first floor space. At first glance, the works appear to be functional home furnishings—a bathtub, coffee table, and fireplace mantle—but further inspection reveals anthropomorphic limbs and subtle material shifts that defy the objects’ expected uses. 

The second floor of the gallery has been taken over by the brothers’ previous works including their hermaphroditic flora, porcelain vases made through meticulous hand building––a process which offers the illusion of an undulating, coral-like tentacles; furry beasts in the unsuspecting form of anthropomorphic ottomans featuring amusing gilded elements; and Socatra floors lamps, which appear to creep and reach throughout the space.

Greeting guests as they enter the gallery are two bronze candleholders––large, beastly claws reaching across the continuum. Lighting the path, these luring hands are offer a clue to the fantastical journey on which visitors will embark in Stonely Planet.

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