Illustration

"Paradigm for Ukraine"

2022, weathering steel, blue and yellow paint, 124 x 41 x 41 cm 

Attracted by failed quests for knowledge in the past, Conrad Shawcross often appropriates redundant theories and methodologies to create ambitious structural and mechanical montages, using a wide variety of materials and media, and often working on an epic scale. Different technologies and 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.
Shawcross has also experimented 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 specific moments or figures from the past. Paradigm (Ode to the Difference Engine), 2006 references the life of Charles Babbage; Space Trumpet, 2007 is informed by the history of early acoustic mapping; Slow Arc Inside a Cube, 2008 takes its inspiration from the scientist Dorothy Hodgkin’s discovery of the structure of pig insulin; and most recently, ADA, 2013 is named after Ada Lovelace, credited by many as the world’s first computer programmer.

Anatoly Kryvolap

About the artist

Conrad Shawcross (b. 1977) – British artist, Royal Academician (2013). Born in London. Lives and works in London.
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.
Recently, Shawcross has developed the scale of his practice, taking on architectural spaces with work that combines epic scope and poetic grace. Timepiece, 2013 was a major new commission for the Roundhouse in which Shawcross transformed the iconic main space of this historic London building into a vast timekeeping device. With this work, the artist seeks to turn the familiar clock – with its circular ‘face’ and three ‘hands’ - back into the cosmological, primeval experience it once was.
Shawcross has had recent solo presentations at Careyes Foundation, Mexico (2014); The Vinyl Factory, London (2014); Berwaldhallen, Stockholm (2014); ARTMIA, Beijing (2014); the Roundhouse, London (2013); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013); National Gallery, London (2012); MUDAM Luxembourg (2012); Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK (2011); The Science Museum, London (2011); 590 Madison Avenue, Pace Gallery, New York, (2010), and others.