Himmel Award and Conversation: Honoring Boundary-Defying Artists the Haas Brothers

April 3 2022 5:00pm - 7:30pm

Bedford Playhouse

Experience the world of boundary-defying artists the Haas Brothers—Simon and Nikolai Haas (b.1984; Austin, TX)—as they discuss their clever, imaginative, and fantasy-filled creations which merge the realms of craft, design, and contemporary art. Playful and at times irreverent, they explore aesthetic themes related to nature, science fiction, sexuality, and psychedelia. Their inventive use of materials ranges from copper, porcelain and fur, to technical resins and polyurethane.

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About the Haas Brothers
Since founding the Haas Brothers in 2010, twin brothers Nikolai and Simon have spurned arbitrary artistic boundaries and hierarchies, creating a playful and provocative world that merges art, fashion, film, music, and design. Their work explores aesthetic themes related to nature, science fiction, sexuality, and psychedelia in materials ranging from brass and porcelain to resins and polyurethane.

In 2013, The Haas Brothers began to collaborate with Monkeybiz, a South African women’s collective known for their beadwork and who also have branded themselves The Haas Sisters. The Haas Brothers have also established a partnership with a group of women from Lost Hills, California, a small agricultural town with limited employment opportunities for women to facilitate the opportunity for the women to learn beadwork skills and now employ them for their beadwork creations. 

Their first solo museum show opened in Miami Beach at The Bass Museum of Art in 2018 and their work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. In 2019, they were the recipients of the Arison Award given by the YoungArts Foundation. They are represented by R & Company and Marianne Boesky Gallery, both in New York, and by Lora Reynolds in Austin, TX. They live and work in Los Angeles. Their exhibition, Constant Carnival: The Haas Brothers in Context, is on view through June 26, 2022.

Tickets

• Members $100 ($40 tax-deductible)
• Non-Members $120 ($60 tax-deductible)
• Students $40

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General admission. Proof of vaccination required. Member and non-member ticket price is partially tax-deductible. For more information contact Lauren Testa at LTesta@katonahmuseum.org or call the Events Department at 914-767-2968.

Location

Bedford Playhouse
633 Old Post Road
Bedford, NY 10506
914-234-6704

bedfordplayhouse.org

About James S. Snyder
We are honored that Katonah Museum of Art Trustee James Snyder will be moderating this year's Himmel Award conversation. Named one of the 50 most influential people in the art world by the Journal des Arts, the French sister-edition of The Art Newspaper, Snyder is currently the Executive Chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation, Inc., Director Emeritus of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and a Senior Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Katonah Museum. Snyder served as the Israel Museum’s Anne and Jerome Fisher Director from 1996 to 2016 and then as its International President through 2018. He also had a remarkable 22-year tenure at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, serving as MoMA's Deputy Director from 1986 to 1996.   

In recognition of his leadership in the arts, Snyder has been awarded the Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana (Commander of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity) by the Republic of Italy and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) of the French Republic. In 2011, Snyder was awarded the Jerusalem Foundation’s Teddy Kollek Award for Significant Contribution to Jerusalem, and, in 2012, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat conferred on him the title of Honorary Citizen of Jerusalem. 

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Snyder is a graduate of Harvard University and a Loeb Fellow of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and he holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hebrew Union College. Snyder's publications include Museum Design: Planning and Building for Art (Oxford University Press) in 1993 and RENEWED: The Israel Museum Campus Renewal Project (Israel Museum) in 2011 and 2015 (revised).

About the Himmel Award
The Katonah Museum of Art’s Himmel Award is given in recognition of creators, conceivers, radical thinkers, and risk-takers that provoke new thinking in art and design. It recognizes and celebrates individuals who have left an indelible mark on the KMA and the art world. Since its inception in 2009, the award has celebrated the impact of a diverse roster of awardees:

Robert Storr, 2009
Mary Schmidt Campbell, 2010
Maya Lin, 2012
Christo, 2014
André Leon Tally, 2015
Julie Taymor, 2016
Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly, 2018
Philippe de Montebello, 2019
Darren Walker, 2021

The Himmel Award is named in honor of Betty Himmel who has been instrumental in defining the direction and mission of the Katonah Museum of Art and who continues to be an arts advocate and community leader.

2022 Himmel Committee:
Betty Himmel (Co-Chair)
Yvonne Pollack (Co-Chair)
Susan Fisher
Vida Foubister
Ginny Gold
Debbie Mullin
Amy Parsons
Thomas Rom
Rochelle Rosenberg

The Himmel Committee appreciates your support for the Katonah Museum of Art to help it fulfill its mission to present exhibitions that explore ideas about art, culture, and society – past and present – through innovative exhibition and education programs.