lattice cube
source: archilibsnet
Conrad Shawcross’ sculptural work often plays around with and manipulates the role of geometry and form. He develops a specific formula through w
hich he is able to address problems about three-dimensionality.
These four cube forms are characterised by their sense of duality, remaining both contained and exposed at the same time. Shawcross’ intricate and complex structures were once described by The Observer as “delicate looking outsize origami” (2009). Works from Shawcross’ ‘Lattices’ address notions of distortion and the role of the cellular unit. There is a specific relationship between these four forms that operates beyond a simple question about size or proportion.
There is a sense of methodology and mathematics that has clearly shaped how Shawcross has created these unique forms. His equal attention to detail and form is a theme which has dominated his practise.
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source: victoria-miro
Imbued with an appearance of scientific rationality, Conrad Shawcross’s sculptures explore subjects that lie on the borders of geometry and philosophy, physics and metaphysics. Attracted by failed quests for knowledge in the past, he often appropriates redundant theories and methodologies to create ambitious structural and mechanical montages, using a wide variety of materials and media, and working on an epic scale. Different technologies – nautical and audio-visual – and different natural forces inspire his forms, but his mysterious machines and structures remain enigmatic, filled with paradox and wonder. Some have an absurdist melancholy feel, while others tend to the sublime.
More recently, with another group of works, Conrad Shawcross has begun to experiment with ideal geometries and topologies; these constructions are conceived as systems, sometimes modular, sometimes mechanical, which could be theoretically extended infinitely into space. In these and other sculptures, Shawcross pays tribute to some of the great pioneers and analysts, and considers a specific moment or figure from the past. Paradigm (Ode to the Difference Engine) (2006) references the life of Charles Babbage, Space Trumpet (2007) is inspired by the history of early acoustic mapping, while Slow Arc Inside a Cube (2008) takes its inspiration from the scientist Dorothy Hodgkin’s discovery of the structure of pig insulin.
Born in 1977 in London, where he currently resides and works. Shawcross has had solo presentations at 590 Madison Avenue, Pace Gallery, New York, (2010), Cabinet, Brooklyn (2009); Location One, New York, New York, (2009) Jenaer Kunstverein, Germany (2008), The New Art Gallery, Walsall and The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2005). His work has also been exhibited internationally at institutions including Musée d’art Contemporain, Lyon (2008), La Chapelle de L’Ecole National Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (2008), The Saatchi Gallery (2004) and Manifesta 5, San Sebastian, Spain (2004). Shawcross’s first public realm commission; Space Trumpet installed in the atrium of the refurbished Unilever Building, London in 2007 won the Art & Work 2008 Award for a Work of Art Commissioned for a Specific Site in a Working Environment, and in 2009 he was awarded the Illy prize for best solo presentation at Art Brussels. Shawcross is currently Artist in Residence at the Science Museum, London.
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source: interactivedesignit
E’ difficile definire in modo netto il lavoro di Conrad Shawcross. Sculture, installazioni e anche performance fanno parte del mondo di Shawcross. Le sue opere sono in genere macchine di grandi dimensioni, simili a robot per la produzione industriale che con il loro movimento creano effetti di luce dal forte fascino.
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source: tavinhocostablogspot
Conrad Shawcross é nascido em Londres e especialista em esculturas mecânicas em madeira que são baseadas em teorias científicas e filosóficas. Nos últimos anos criou arte que ultrapassa as fronteiras ortodoxas de criação. Tem misturado e assimilado idéias de inúmeras disciplinas como física quântica e linguística para criar obras que são ímpares. A última delas é o Palíndromo que ilustra o teorema de Einstein que o cosmo consiste de um oceano infinito de buracos negros e brancos que funcionam como um ralo por onde transita a matéria em infinitas explosões e implosões.
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source: mudamlu
« Je suis fasciné par les questions de certitude et par l’imagination scientifique, qui, dans la théorie des cordes par exemple, interroge la forme de l’univers et les mouvements. Pour moi, la science est une construction logique parfaitement rationnelle et empirique, qui ne repose que sur elle-même. Cette construction ne cesse de grandir, alors même que ses fondements sont instables, à l’image de ces grandes tours ou bâtiments sur piliers. » (Conrad Shawcross)
Les questions scientifiques et philosophiques posées par les mathématiques et l’épistémologie sont au cœur de la pratique de Conrad Shawcross. Le travail de l’artiste fait se rencontrer différents champs scientifiques pour créer des images qui, à l’instar de ces dispositifs de modélisation mathématique que l’on trouve dans les musées des sciences, permettent de visualiser et de faire comprendre des liens de causalité complexes ou des principes théoriques, sans pour autant les nommer explicitement. Souvent réalisées en bois et surdimensionnées, les sculptures cinétiques de Conrad Shawcross se démarquent par leur allure anachronique : telles ces formidables machines des débuts de l’industrialisation, elles tournoient sur elles-mêmes et fabriquent des objets dont la valeur d’usage demeure aussi hypothétique que celle des connaissances produites par la recherche fondamentale.
