★★★★
By Jonathan Jones
can’t remember the last time an artist explained a body of work to me by referring to Thomas Kuhn’s 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Come to think of it they never have before. According to Kuhn, the history of science progresses not through evolution but sudden “paradigm shifts”. One line of thought is developed until it hits the buffers and slips sideways into a new way of thinking. Or as Conrad Shawcross put it while we looked at his latest abstract sculptures: interlocking tetrahedrons are stacked up as high as they go until they reach the point of overbalancing.
According to Shawcross, who talks intensely and eloquently about his own work, he is modelling scientific thought, reason itself. Interesting stuff – but what does it add up to artistically? I dismiss the artist so I can look properly at his art.
Image: installation view, Conrad Shawcross: After the Explosion, Before the Collapse at Victoria Miro Mayfair
© the artist, courtesy Victoria Miro, London/Venice
16 Wharf Road
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t: 44 (0)20 7336 8109
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Closed: Sunday, Monday, bank holiday weekends, public holidays
14 St George Street
London W1S 1FE
t: 44 (0)20 3205 8910
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, bank holiday weekends, public holidays
Il Capricorno, San Marco 1994,
30124 Venice, Italy
t: +39 041 523 3799
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–1pm and 2–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, bank holiday weekends, public holidays
534 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011, USA
t: +1 (212) 229 2400
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, holiday weekends, public holidays
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
t: 44 (0)20 7336 8109
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Closed: Sunday, Monday, bank holiday weekends, public holidays
14 St George Street
London W1S 1FE
t: 44 (0)20 3205 8910
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, bank holiday weekends, public holidays
Il Capricorno, San Marco 1994,
30124 Venice, Italy
t: +39 041 523 3799
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–1pm and 2–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, bank holiday weekends, public holidays
534 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011, USA
t: +1 (212) 229 2400
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, holiday weekends, public holidays
14 St George Street
London W1S 1FE
t: 44 (0)20 3205 8910
info@victoria-miro.com
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London: Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm.
Venice: Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–1pm & 2–6pm. During August, Monday–Friday: 10am–1pm & 2–6pm.
We are also closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays.
Admission free. Large groups should please contact the gallery in advance to book a visit.
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info@victoria-miro.com
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