Artist – Miler Lagos
Home, 2011
Magnan Metz Gallery
521 West 26th Street
New York 10001
United States
T: (1) 212.244.2344
E: info@magnanmetz.com
W: www.magnanmetz.com
During his 2011 stay in Manhattan, Lagos was struck by the numerous water towers he observed dotting the city’s skyline, “The structures look like small huts from the Sierra Nevada, which are made with cone roofs of straw, and their cylindrical wall of clay and wood. The similarity inspired the idea of water tank as home.” In Water House this concept is conveyed as the purpose of the water tank is inverted: the walls block out liquid instead of retaining it, transforming the structure into a refuge for human life rather than water. We are left to consider the basic qualities—both material and immaterial—that creates a home environment: shelter, space, security, a sense of belonging. A fanciful quality is also prevalent in the piece, as we imagine a foreign, pre-industrialized region existing atop the buzzing metropolis of Manhattan.