Oscar Tuazon
Oscar Tuazon works with natural and industrial materials to create objects, structures, and installations that can be used, occupied, or otherwise engaged by viewers. With a strong interest and influence from architecture and minimalism, Tuazon turns both disciplines on its head as he mangles, twists, combines, and connects steel, glass, concrete, two-by-fours, tree trunks, burnt wood, and found objects. The artist produces objects and environments that draw out humanity’s relationship to buildings, interior and exterior spaces, and other objects and structures. He focuses on raising awareness and presenting alternatives – rethinking the tools and equipment that we use to build, as well as the construction techniques we employ, and the ambitions we have for building; inhabiting and being part of a landscape while preserving it.
Oscar Tuazon (b. 1975, Seattle, WA) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, and Oil City, WA. Recent institutional solo exhibitions include Oscar Tuazon: Fire Worship at the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO (2020); Oscar Tuazon: Collaborator at Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA (2019); Oscar Tuazon: Water School at MSU Broad Museum, East Lansing, MI (2019); Oscar Tuazon: Hammer Projects at the Hammer Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (2016); Studio at Le Consortium, Dijon, France (2015); and Sensory Spaces 1, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2013). He has been commissioned for numerous public art works including Growth Rings for Central Wharf Park in Boston, MA (2019); a large-scale installation Une colonne d’eau in the Place Vendôme, Paris, France (2017); and Un pont sans fin for Nouveaux Commanditaires, Belfort, France (2016). Tuazon’s work has been exhibited in numerous institutional group exhibitions around the world, among them the 34th Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2021); Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago, IL (2019); Skulptur Projekte, Münster, Germany (2017); Documenta 14, Athens, Greece (2017); Triennale d’art contemporain de Beaufort, Ostend, Belgium (2015); Whitney Biennial, New York, NY (2012); and the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2011).
Artworks
Oscar Tuazon
Wolf Moon, 2022
Western red cedar
36 x 36 x 4 inches
(91.4 x 91.4 x 10.2 cm)
Courtesy of Morán Morán
Oscar Tuazon
Growth Rings, 2019
Wood, Douglas fir
Site-specific installation of 3 large wood rings
Central Wharf Park, Boston, MA
Oscar Tuazon
Growth Rings, 2019
Wood, Douglas fir
Site-specific installation of 3 large wood rings
Central Wharf Park, Boston, MA
Oscar Tuazon
Los Angeles Water School (LAWS), 2018
Mixed media
Photograph by Jeremy Jansen
Oscar Tuazon
Burn the Formwork, 2017
Concrete, firebricks, metal, wood, and fire
ca. 145.7 x 208.7 x 208.7 inches
(ca. 370 × 530 × 530 cm)
Courtesy of LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur Photograph by Henning Rogge
Oscar Tuazon
Water Column, 2017
One of four elements in Une Colonne d’Eau, 2017
Thermoplastic hoses and tree trunks
105.7 x 82.75 x 315 inches
(268 x 210 x 800 cm)
Installation view: Place Vendôme, Paris (October 16 – November 9, 2017). Photograph by Marc Domage
Oscar Tuazon
Sun Riot, 2017
One of four elements in Une Colonne d’Eau, 2017
Thermoplastic hoses and tree trunks
105.6 x 82.75 x 392.1 inches
(268 x 210 x 996 cm)
Installation view: Place Vendôme, Paris (October 16 – November 9, 2017). Photograph by Marc Domage
Installation view
Hammer Projects: Oscar Tuazon, 2016
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Photograph by Brian Forrest
Installation view
Hammer Projects: Oscar Tuazon, 2016
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Photograph by Brian Forrest
Oscar Tuazon
Beyond the realm of speech, 2013
Steel, acryl glass, luminescent tube, blinds, drywall installation, and wood
78.75 x 120.1 x 65 inches
(200 x 305 x 165 cm)
Photograph by Stefan Altenburger, Zurich
Oscar Tuazon
White Walls, 2012/2019
Steel, concrete, drywall, and paint
86 x 86 x 48 inches
(218.4 x 218.4 x 121.9 cm)
Courtesy of Morán Morán
Oscar Tuazon
An Error, 2011
Concrete, locust tree trunk, and living maple tree
118 × 472 × 236.5 inches
(229.7 × 1198.9 × 600.7 cm)
Jill and Peter Kraus Collection
Oscar Tuazon
Untitled, 2010
Pine and steel
ca. 472.5 x 787.4 x 177.2 inches
(ca. 1200 × 2000 × 450 cm)
Installation view of Oscar Tuazon at Kunsthalle Bern
Photograph by Dominique Uldry
Oscar Tuazon
Untitled, 2010
Pine and steel
ca. 472.5 x 787.4 x 177.2 inches
(ca. 1200 × 2000 × 450 cm)
Installation view of Oscar Tuazon at Kunsthalle Bern
Photograph by Dominique Uldry
