A groundbreaking group exhibition titled "house-tree-person (a group iteration)" is currently on display at BlankMag Books in New York City, offering visitors a unique intersection of art therapy and contemporary creative expression. Co-curated by therapist Daniel Soprano and artist Jesus Antonio, this innovative show invites 15 artists to reinterpret a classic psychological assessment tool through their artistic lens.
The exhibition draws its inspiration from the House-Tree-Person assessment, a projective psychological test originally developed by clinical psychologist John N. Buck and first published in Clinical Psychology Monographs in 1948. This assessment tool, designed to work similarly to Florence Goodenough's earlier "Draw A Man" test, aims to reveal unconscious feelings about the self, home, and familial relationships through artistic expression.
For curator Daniel Soprano, who also hosts the "Say You Swear" podcast, this represents his curatorial debut and a personal passion project. "I fell in love with the instant bridge between art and psychology," Soprano told Hyperallergic, explaining how he first encountered the H-T-P test during graduate school while taking an assessment course. As a creative individual who recognized that "being an artist or designer, whatever that means in its proper sense, was not going to be in my future," Soprano found that he "continued to have a desire to create that was not satisfied through my work as a therapist."
The artistic interpretations displayed in the exhibition are as diverse and varied as those typically found in therapeutic environments. Hunter Ney's contribution features collaged representations of house, tree, and person as "small, layered universes," with a shadowy, green tree accompanied by Tinkerbell, and a person component that depicts not one individual but two figures, nearly obscured by a crimson spiral.
Sarame Sahgal took a photographic approach, responding to the prompt with Polaroid images: a tiny house placed on a warmly lit bed, a splayed tree trunk with limb-like branches, and a person rendered nearly invisible by vivid sunlight. Meanwhile, Lee Dawson utilized a mixed-media approach combining watercolor, markers, and graphite on paper to create abstract responses that resemble "beautiful oil spills."
The exhibition's format capitalizes on the H-T-P test's inherent flexibility, as Soprano explained, making it particularly well-suited for a group show. The display maintains "an easy tidiness" with each work presented in uniform frames and prompt responses arranged vertically, creating visual coherence while allowing for individual artistic expression.
Among the other notable works, Maith Logan's watercolor and graphite house incorporates human elements, featuring "a feminine figure encircled by trees, located where you're at peace," according to an accompanying note that poses the question: "What good is a home without an inhabitant to protect?" This piece exemplifies how artists have expanded beyond literal interpretations of the prompts.
Shana Sadeghi-Ray created three comprehensive digital prints, each composed of 35 smaller images that explore different aspects of the prompts. Her house component includes chandeliers, seashells, and furniture; the tree section features honey bears, Christmas trees, and leaves; while the person element incorporates enwombed infants, a Kewpie doll, and an X-ray image.
The exhibition demonstrates how concepts like home, body, and our relationship to the land are "multitudinous concepts." As the curators suggest, a chair can be associated with home, while a doll can represent a living entity, showing how personal associations and interpretations can vary widely among individuals.
Interestingly, the uninterpreted, curated responses may reveal as much about human psychology and creativity as the standardized test itself, suggesting that art can serve as both a diagnostic tool and a form of personal expression. The exhibition also includes a copy of "The House-Tree-Person Technique" by John N. Buck, providing visitors with context about the original psychological assessment.
"House-tree-person (a group iteration)" continues at BlankMag Books, located at 17 Eldridge Street in Chinatown, Manhattan, through October 5. The exhibition demonstrates a commitment to supporting art therapy by donating ten percent of the show's proceeds to the American Art Therapy Association, bridging the gap between contemporary art practice and therapeutic applications.
