Wolfgang Laib Wax Room

1950 for a specific museum.

Wolfgang laib wax room.

A conversation with wolfgang laib by sarah tanguy. You have described it as a small space dug out of the rock on a mountainside having the dimensions of a human being entirely covered in beeswax and with a small wooden door. We are transported inside a beehive but instead of swarming bees we find ourselves. German artist wolfgang laib b.

1950 installs a wax room at the phillips collection the first permanently installed artwork at the phillips since the rothko room in 1960 and the first wax room. A wax room for a mountain for parkett no. One of your most recent projects involves an actual mountain a wax room for the mountain. It is also the first permanently installed artwork at the phillips collection in washington d c since the museum s rothko room opened in 1960.

Wolfgang laib s wax room immerses us in a space covered in beeswax. 1950 installed the work in a space he helped to select in the original phillips house. In 2013 laib s pollen from hazelnut was on view at the museum of modern art new york and the laib wax room opened at the phillips collection in march of the same year. Wolfgang laib a 63 year old conceptual artist from germany created the meditative space.

The opening to what was once a small storage closet has been narrowed to better frame views of wolfgang laib s wax room a new and permanent installation at the phillips collection the old. Photo by rhiannon newman. German artist wolfgang laib b. Wolfgang laib was born in 1950 in metzingen germany.

It would be a. The sights smells and practically the taste consume our senses. Lined with fragrant beeswax and illuminated by a single bare light bulb wax room 2013 is the first permanent wax room created by german artist wolfgang laib b. Over the course of a few days in late.

Instead of dripping honey we find a solitary hanging lightbulb. Wolfgang laib installing the wax room. Inspired by the teachings of the ancient taoist philosopher laozi by the modern artist brancusi and the legacy of formative life experiences with his family in germany and india laib creates sculptures that seem to connect that past and present the ephemeral and the eternal.