Contrappasta!

Wolfgang Laib
German artist Wolfgang Laib’s signature wax rooms are cocoon-like chambers—each lit by a bare bulb, and are lined with golden beeswax. The beeswax tiles coat the walls, muffle sound and emit a strong, earthy fragrance. These elements make the small spaces feel even smaller. Since pioneering the method in 1988, Laib has created his temporary rooms in institutions all over the world, from New York’s Museum of Modern Art to Germany’s Kunstmuseum Stuttgart to the Museum De Pont in the Netherlands.


Laib’s new wax room at the Phillips accommodates no more than two visitors at once. When considering venues for his first permanent installation in a museum, the artist was drawn to the intimate spaces.

“People often say that my pollen pieces are like Rothkos on the floor,” Laib says. “But I don’t like this connection because it refers only to similarities in color. Actually, my beeswax works have much more to do with Rothko in that he preferred to exhibit in tight, close spaces, so that his paintings had a concentrated influence on your body.”

“With their smell and their warmth and light,” says Ottmann, “Wolfgang’s wax rooms have the effect of suspending reality for a moment. And that’s something quite magical.”