Conrad Shawcross

Last updated

Conrad Shawcross
Conrad Shawcross.JPG
Shawcross posing with his installation The Nervous System (Inverted) at the Mudam, Luxembourg
Born (1977-04-26) 26 April 1977 (age 47)
London, United Kingdom
Alma mater Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford
Slade School of Fine Art, University College London
Spouse
Carolina Mazzolari
(m. 2013)
Parent(s) William Shawcross
Marina Warner
Elected Royal Academy of Arts
Website conradshawcross.com

Conrad Hartley Pelham Shawcross RA (born 26 April 1977) [1] is a British artist specializing in mechanical sculptures based on philosophical and scientific ideas. When he was elected, Conrad Shawcross was the youngest living member of the Royal Academy of Arts. [2] [3]

Contents

Early life

Born in London, Shawcross is the son of biographer William Shawcross and the novelist, mythographer and cultural historian Marina Warner. His paternal grandfather was Sir Hartley Shawcross. Through his mother, he is the great grandson of cricketer Sir Pelham Warner. [4]

Shawcross studied at Westminster School, the Chelsea School of Art, the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art (while a member of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford), [5] and the Slade School of Fine Art (University College London).

Career

Imbued with an appearance of scientific rationality, 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.

Shawcross was included in the 2001 exhibition of British art school graduates Bloomberg New Contemporaries. His work came to prominence at the 2004 New Blood exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery at London County Hall. He exhibited The Nervous System, a large, symmetrical, working loom producing over 20,000 metres of double-helix coloured rope every week. [6]

In December 2004, Shawcross' commission Continuum opened at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, an installation on time and maritime themes made specifically to match the history and architecture of the venue, the Queen's House. [7] )

Installations in 2009-2010 include a horizontal rope machine in the Holborn Tunnel, and a vast 60 foot high vertical version, Nervous System (Inverted) in the Sculpture Gallery, 590 Madison Avenue, New York, New York. A 14 metre long spiral cast in aluminium, Fraction (9:8), was unveiled in 2010 at the Sadler Building at the Oxford Science Park. [8] Several of Shawcross' works were shown in the inaugural exhibition at Turner Contemporary in Margate in 2011. [9]

More recently, Shawcross has developed the scale of his practice, taking on architectural spaces with work that combines epic scope and poetic grace. Timepiece was a major new commission for the Roundhouse in 2013 in which Shawcross transformed the iconic main space of this historic London building into a vast timekeeping device. [10]

In 2015, a new series of permanent sculptures, Three Perpetual Chords was unveiled in Dulwich Park, London, following a commission by Southwark Council advised by the Contemporary Art Society to replace works by Barbara Hepworth that were stolen in 2011. [11] In the same year the artist also unveiled a new site-specific installation for the Royal Academy's Annenberg Courtyard as part of the Summer Exhibition. [12] This followed his invitation, along with Chris Ofili and Mark Wallinger, to create works inspired by Titian's masterpieces for the project Metamorphosis: Titian 2012, [13] an ambitious collaboration with the National Gallery and Royal Ballet for the Cultural Olympiad.

Shawcross was Artist in Residence at the Science Museum, London, from 2009 - 2011, and his first public realm commission Space Trumpet, installed in the atrium of the refurbished Unilever House in London in 2007, won the Art & Work 2008 Award for a Work of Art Commissioned for a Specific Site in a Working Environment. In 2009 he was awarded the Illy prize for best solo presentation at Art Brussels. In 2014 he won the Jack Goldhill Award for sculpture at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. [14]

On Greenwich Peninsula in south east London, the 49 m high tower of a district heating energy centre, designed by C. F. Møller Architects and due to be completed in 2016, [15] is clad in a complex metal cladding formed of hundreds of triangular patterns, designed by Shawcross. [15]

Personal life

Shawcross previously had a long-term relationship with theatre and opera director Sophie Hunter whom he met while studying at Oxford. [16] [17] The couple split in early 2010.[ citation needed ]

In 2013, Shawcross married Italian Artist Carolina Mazzolari; they have one son, Hartley Bruce Cy. [ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Young British Artists</span> Loose group of visual artists

The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsmiths, in the late 1980s, whereas some from the group had trained at Royal College of Art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Academy of Arts</span> Art institution in London, England

The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly in London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the fine arts through exhibitions, education and debate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracey Emin</span> English artist (born 1963)

Dame Tracey Karima Emin is an English artist known for autobiographical and confessional artwork. She produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, neon text and sewn appliqué. Once the "enfant terrible" of the Young British Artists in the 1980s, Tracey Emin is now a Royal Academician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saatchi Gallery</span> Physical and online contemporary art museum in Chelsea, London

The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the Damien Hirst-led Young British Artists, followed by shows purely of painting, led to Saatchi Gallery becoming a recognised authority in contemporary art globally. It has occupied different premises, first in North London, then the South Bank by the River Thames, and finally in Chelsea, Duke of York's HQ, its current location. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a registered charity and began a new chapter in its history. Recent exhibitions include the major solo exhibition of the artist JR, JR: Chronicles, and London Grads Now in September 2019 lending the gallery spaces to graduates from leading fine art schools who experienced the cancellation of physical degree shows due to the pandemic.

Momart is a British company specialising in the storage, transportation, and installation of works of art. A major proportion of their business is maintaining often delicate artworks in a secure, climate-controlled environment. The company maintains specialist warehouse facilities adapted for this task. Momart's clients include the Royal Academy of Arts, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery, Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Buckingham Palace. The company received considerable media attention in 2004 when a fire spread to one of their warehouses from an adjacent unit, destroying the works in it, including works by Young British Artists such as Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, including Emin's 1995 piece Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995. On 5 March 2008 Momart was taken over by Falkland Islands Holdings for £10.3 million, of which £4.6 million was in cash, £2.5 million was in shares and £3.2 million was deferred consideration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Langlands & Bell</span> Artist duo

Langlands & Bell are two artists who work collaboratively. Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell, began collaborating in 1978, while studying Fine Art at Middlesex Polytechnic in North London, from 1977 to 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Miro Gallery</span> Contemporary art gallery in London, England

The Victoria Miro Gallery is a British contemporary art gallery in London, run by Victoria Miro. Miro opened her first gallery in 1985 in Cork Street, before moving to larger premises in Islington in 2000 and later opening a second space in St George Street, Mayfair.

Eva Rothschild RA is an Irish artist based in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Wilson (sculptor)</span> British sculptor, artist and musician

Richard Wilson is an English sculptor, installation artist and musician.

Eileen Cooper is a British artist, known primarily as a painter and printmaker.

Rodney McMillian is an artist based in Los Angeles. McMillian is a Professor of Sculpture at the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dan Holdsworth is a British photographer who creates large-scale photographs and digital art characterized by the use of traditional techniques and unusually long exposure times, and by radical abstractions of geography. He has exhibited internationally including solo shows at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, and Barbican Art Gallery, London; and group shows at Tate Britain, London, and Centre Pompidou, Paris. His work is held in collections including the Tate Collection, Saatchi Collection, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He lives and works in Newcastle upon Tyne and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Haas</span> American film director

Philip Haas is an American artist, screenwriter and filmmaker, perhaps best known for his 2012 sculpture exhibition "The Four Seasons" and his 1995 film Angels and Insects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Le Brun</span> British artist

Sir Christopher Mark Le Brun PPRA is a British artist, known primarily as a painter. President of the Royal Academy of Arts from 2011 to December 2019, Le Brun was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours "for services to the arts".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Moore (curator)</span> British art curator, entrepreneur and artist

Benjamin Neel Critchley Moore is a British art curator, entrepreneur and artist. He is the founder and curator of Art Below, a contemporary art organisation that places art in public places and has had shows in England, Germany, Japan and the United States. He is also the founder and curator of Art Wars, an exhibition of designs based on the Imperial Stormtrooper helmets from Star Wars. In 2021, Moore was part of the Art Wars NFT project which resulted in massive losses for the purchasers of the NFTs and claims of copyright theft from artists whose physical work was reproduced without their permission.

John Loker is a contemporary British abstract painter based in East Anglia and represented by Flowers Gallery, London and New York. Loker has numerous artworks in public and private collections, and has exhibited in some of the UK's major institutions since the 1970s.

Juliette Losq is a London-based contemporary artist known for photorealistic pieces. She is the recipient of several awards for her art. Her work is part of the permanent collection at the Saatchi Gallery, the All Visual Arts collection, and in Cambridge's New Hall Art Collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Darbyshire</span> British artist

Matthew Darbyshire is a British artist who lives and works in London.

Jane Ackroyd is a British artist best known for her public sculptures. She is based in London.

Rosie Leventon is a British visual artist whose practice encompasses sculpture, installation, land art, drawing and painting. She is known for making sculptural installations that reference current issues as well as the natural environment,prehistoric archaeology and vernacular architecture.

References

  1. Mosley, Charles (1 December 2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage. p. 3680. ISBN   978-0971196629.
  2. "Conrad Shawcross RA Elect". Royal Academy of Arts.
  3. "Rising star of art world commissioned by the Crick to create stunning public sculpture". The Francis Crick Institute. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  4. Warner, Marina (11 June 2004). "My grandfather, Plum". The Guardian.
  5. "LMH Prominent Alumni" . Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  6. The Nervous System, Saatchi Gallery
  7. "Conrad Shawcross: Continuum" Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine , Royal Museums Greenwich
  8. Conrad Shawcross sculpture at Oxford Science Park
  9. "Exhibitions > Revealed: Turner Contemporary Opens | Turner Contemporary". www.turnercontemporary.org. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  10. "Timepiece - Roundhouse". Roundhouse. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  11. "Dulwich Park – Conrad Shawcross Commission | Contemporary Art Society". www.contemporaryartsociety.org. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  12. "Video: the making of Conrad Shawcross's courtyard installation | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  13. "Metamorphosis: Titian 2012 | Exhibitions and displays | The National Gallery, London". www.nationalgallery.org.uk. Archived from the original on 15 November 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  14. "Summer Exhibition 2014 prizes announced | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre Revealed". C.F. Møller Architects. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  16. Sooke, Alistair (29 November 2005). "In the studio: Conrad Shawcross". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  17. Williams-Akoto, Tessa (31 May 2006). "My Home: Conrad Shawcross". The Independent . Retrieved 10 November 2014.