The imaginative, bizarre, and deeply strange childhood dreams of twin artists Nikolai and Simon Haas have materialized in a sweeping, large-scale exhibition currently on view at the Blanton Museum of Art. Working collectively as the Haas Brothers, the Los Angeles-based siblings have been collaborating since 2010, earning widespread international acclaim for their fantastical sculptures of flora and fauna infused with their signature cheeky, surreal twist. In Austin, Texas, the duo presents a comprehensive range of figurative furniture, plush and cartoonish characters, and glowing, illuminated installations that proudly showcase their fiercely idiosyncratic aesthetic to both longtime admirers and new audiences alike.
Previously mounted at the Cranbrook Art Museum and the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, Uncanny Valley marks a significant milestone for the creators: it is the very first mid-career survey dedicated to the artistic duo. The exhibition brings together a wide-ranging collection of their quirky, genre-defying works that routinely blur the boundaries between fine art, design, sculpture, and play. For the artists, the Austin presentation carries a profound personal resonance, serving as a homecoming that nods directly to their formative years. The brothers lived in the Texas capital from the age of 3 until they were 19, a crucial developmental period during which the city’s unofficial yet culturally defining slogan, "Keep Austin Weird," firmly established itself as an enduring ethos and an early, foundational influence on their creative outlook.
Operating at the fascinating intersection of technology, nature, and artificiality, the brothers frequently interrogate how modern innovations alter our relationship with the organic world. Their brilliant and bizarre "moonlight" strawberry tree, featured prominently in the exhibition, appears as though it has been plucked straight from an alien planet and unceremoniously transplanted into the quiet, contemplative space of the museum gallery. This blending of the familiar and the utterly alien runs as a golden thread through the entire survey, challenging viewers to rethink their preconceptions about materials, texture, and living forms.
In an artist statement prepared specifically for the exhibition, Simon Haas elaborated on the conceptual framework that inspired the title and direction of the show. "The ‘uncanny valley’ generally refers to robotics, where empathy for a robot increases the more human you make it—up to a point," Simon explained. "When the robot becomes too human, empathy switches to revulsion. The solution for this is to add cuteness: when a robot is humanoid with an extra dose of cuteness, empathy for the object skyrockets. Looking at our 15-year career from a bird’s-eye view, the ‘uncanny valley’ came into focus as a core theme."
Throughout the gallery spaces of the Blanton Museum of Art, this tension between the unsettling and the endearing is palpable. Visitors encounter meticulously crafted objects that defy easy categorization. There are vibrantly colored, otherworldly stools featuring exaggerated, protruding tongues that look simultaneously like friendly cartoon monsters and remnants of a psychedelic ecosystem. Plush, tactile sculptures line the walls and rest upon pedestals, inviting an almost irresistible tactile curiosity while maintaining an aura of mysterious otherness. The furniture pieces are fully functional yet thoroughly sculptural, dissolving the barrier between utilitarian design and pure artistic expression.
The exhibition’s exploration of cuteness, artificiality, and organic life resonates deeply within contemporary cultural conversations surrounding automation, artificial intelligence, and our increasingly mediated relationship with the natural environment. By channeling the unfiltered, boundary-pushing imagination of their childhood into high-craft fabrication techniques—incorporating materials ranging from porcelain and brass to specialized beads and high-end upholstery—the Haas Brothers create a safe space for viewers to experience wonder, confusion, and delight all at once.
Uncanny Valley will remain on view at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin through January 17, giving local audiences and travelers a final regional opportunity to experience the immersive survey before it packs up and travels to its ultimate destination, the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. For those wishing to delve deeper into the studio’s eccentric universe, an accompanying monograph sharing the title Uncanny Valley is available through Bookshop, documenting the first decade and a half of the twins’ remarkable collaborative journey.
