Since his breakthrough exhibition in 1996, Thomas Houseago has created a body of work that is as paradoxical as it is coherent. Often monumental in scale, his sculptures are surprisingly complex and reveal countless traces of the processes involved in their creation. They evoke solidity and physical strength, yet exude a sense of emotional vulnerability. His sculpture is resolutely contemporary, yet speaks to the past. Mysterious and unworldly, and executed in a highly evolved visual language that is entirely Houseago’s own, his oeuvre is also notable for its startling, almost brutal honesty. In My Genghis Khan Suit/Like A Circle Around the Sun all of these seemingly contradictory facets coalesce in an exhibition that illuminates Houseago’s intense engagement with the process of making art. Says Houseago: “I am fascinated by the act – whatever form it takes – of making art. And in a broad sense, by how an artist responds to the world and the action that occurs from that interaction... I wanted to get rid of the readymade and figure out what I looked like and how I reacted to the world.” 0 Exhibition: Xavier Hufkens gallery, Brussels, Belguim (27.06-31.08.2013).