About the Artist
Imbued with an appearance of scientific rationality, Conrad Shawcross’ sculptures explore subjects that lie on the borders of geometry and philosophy, physics and metaphysics. Inspired by different technologies, the artist's structures may retain in appearance the authority of machines - yet, they remain enigmatic, filled with paradox and wonder. Some have an absurdist melancholy feel, while others tend to the sublime, substituting the purely functional for phenomenological experience. In the end, Shawcross’s art questions what we take for granted and encourages us to see beyond the physical.
Survey: Selected Works
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Optic Labyrinth (Arrangement I), 2018
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Fracture (R24W4), 2018
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Murmuration Sequence, 2018
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Slow Fold Inside a Corner, 2018
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Paradigm, 2016
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Three Perpetual Chords, 2015
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The Dappled Light of the Sun, 2015
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Timepiece, 2013
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Skein Cone, 2011
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Projections of the Perfect Third, 2011
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The Blind Aesthetic, 2011
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Installation View, Victoria Miro, 2011
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Perimeter Studies Set 6, 2010
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Slow Arc inside a Cube IV, 2009
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Chord, 2009
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Lattice V, 2008
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Pre-retroscope V (River Lea Journey 2008), 2008
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Dark Heart, 2007
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Palindrome, 2007
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Binary Star, 2006
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Paradigm (Ode to the Difference Engine), 2006
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Continuum, 2004
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The nervous systems, 2003
In Focus
Conrad Shawcross, Optic Labyrinth (Arrangement I), 2018
For Frieze Sculpture 2018, selected by Clare Lilley, Director of Programme, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Conrad Shawcross has created a new work, titled Optic Labyrinth (Arrangement I), 2018. Taking the form of a simple immersive maze, the work engages with the sun and its shifting position throughout the day and the seasons, focusing specifically on how people navigate and orientate themselves both emotionally and physically in relation to its rise and fall.