Nick Mauss Explores Absence and Gesture in Multidisciplinary Practice
Nick Mauss engages in a diverse range of creative expressions, including ceramics, drawings, mirror paintings, textiles, exhibition setups, architecture, choreography, and costume design. His work also encompasses writing, research, and curating exhibitions that challenge traditional notions of authorship. In 2018, he presented "Transmissions" at the Whitney Museum, which delved into the intersection of art and Modernist ballet, featuring unique choreography. The following year, the Kunsthalle Basel hosted "Bizarre Silks, Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, etc.," which scrutinized display practices. Recently, Mauss encountered Rodin's Study for a Dressing Gown for Balzac (1897) at the Musée Rodin. He also conducted a sound performance of Genet's 1948 ballet Adame Miroir in Tom Burr's studio, highlighting absence in his drawings and the significance of gesture in directing viewer movement.
Key facts
- Nick Mauss works across ceramics, drawings, paintings on mirrors and textiles, exhibition displays, architectures, choreographies, and costumes.
- His 2018 solo show "Transmissions" at the Whitney Museum in New York examined art and Modernist ballet connections from the 1930s to 1950s.
- "Bizarre Silks, Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, etc." (2020) at Kunsthalle Basel focused on display conventions and relationships between fact and fantasy.
- Mauss viewed Auguste Rodin's Study for a Dressing Gown for Balzac (1897) at the Musée Rodin in Paris.
- He creates works around bodily absence, like suspended transparent overalls from a 1930s folklore ballet.
- Mauss staged a sound-based performance of Jean Genet's 1948 ballet Adame Miroir in Tom Burr's studio/archive without performing bodies.
- His work fixates on gesture, shaping exhibition logic and viewer movement.
- In Genet's ballet performance, the audience becomes the dance while moving among sculptures.
Entities
Artists
- Nick Mauss
- Auguste Rodin
- Jean Genet
- Tom Burr
Institutions
- Whitney Museum
- Kunsthalle Basel
- Musée Rodin
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Basel
- Switzerland
- Paris
- France