Between lectures I went and see the exhibition of Richard Deacon at Tate Britain. In his exhibition where on show both his large scale sculptures and more domestic smaller works which I had never seen before. The sculptures are a combination of different materials from laminated wood to leather to polycarbonate combined with elements of engineering there are also large ceramic pieces the biggest I have ever seen which I found interesting as I make works in ceramics myself but on a smaller case due to lack of studio space, storage space and lack of help because obviously in his case he employes people to help him realise his visions. He works with different methods of construction creating great movement in some of the works. The piece Blind Deaf & Dumb (first pic. below) which is made out of laminated wood with a lot of movement that made me think of continuous musical keys the movement gave playfulness to the piece, the turns and twists without a solid centre could have resembled a stripped boat which is opposite to the large green ceramic piece (second pic below) in the entrance hall of Tate Britain which I failed to see at first and made out of solid ceramic which has weight, it's dense the opposite of Blind Deaf & Dumb. Deacon's Fold 2012 it's really huge, stands as beginning and end to the exhibition. It's a public sculpture in glazed ceramic made out of 9 closely clustered towers that resembled a freestanding folding screen. Some of the titles in his work give out his interest in poetic and philosophical ideas and an interest between each component and the whole.
Other of his ceramic pieces are based on geometries while the sculptures made out of tubular wooden pieces that you can see right through which reminded me of roller coasters. I wanted to get inside of it but one is not allowed see the sculpture 'After' below.
One piece I particularly liked was a large ceramic sculpture that looked like a white rope and I was wondering how did he make it? It's ceramics but it bents and it's floppy going downwards without breaking it looked so natural it's really incredible. Richard Deacon makes the materials do things you would think they would not be able to do: metal that bends in several directions but with out breaking it's really complex manufacturing combined with organic movement. You can see the white ceramic rope at the back of the image dangling down from the ceiling below.
He goes from movement and openness in Room 2 & Room 5 to stasis and closure in Room 3 & Room 6 a careful combination of volume and gravity from abstract to organic forms. One can walk around the sculptures but not through them which I felt like doing, climbing inside them or under. Also I noticed that while the surface of his culture are smooth and one felt drawn to touch them one wasn't allowed too. The screws, glue, bolts where visible which I found at odds with the smoothness of the surface of the wood and metal sheets he didn't try to hide the roughness. Some of pieces are based on nature but are complex man made constructions more close to an engineering work then sculpting it made me think of a combination of industrial design, architectural decoration with an element of the fantastical see below.
There are also pieces such as Other People 0f 1982 below (Fig.1). A combination of leather, marble, rubber and stone which seems to me due to their small size that are meant for the house, for an intimate environment that one could transport easily, if travelling. More suitable for a domestic setting, a combination of hard and soft that I found to be quite sensual. Some of the titles in his work give out his interest in poetic and philosophical ideas and an interest between each component and the whole. Also there is a smaller ceramic piece which is modular, undulating (Fig.2) over all the colour scheme used in the pieces is towards the minimal, I guess in a way to accompany form and not detract or contrast from it, the only time the colour is more prominent and more wild in away it is in the piece called Tropic
( Fig.3).
( Fig.3).
The piece Struck Dumb below it's made out of sturdy steel, it's an industrial construction built in a shipyard ( an industry in decline), I wonder if this sculpture might be Richard Deacon's memorial to British shipbuilding? It has a dark surface with some red, the title it's very good, will we the viewers strike the piece to find out what noise it makes? No I didn't see anybody in the gallery trying so it is 'struck dumb', we will never know and I did have an urge to go underneath it but I stopped myself.
Near the Ceramic white rope there was also another piece called 'Waiting for the Rain' below, that looked like a giant sculpted rock that one could find on a film set made from terracotta again I did find incredible that for a such large piece it wasn't cracked. The terracotta colour was calming but some how a bit unnatural, over powering, it's the same strong colour all around the piece which made it look a bit fake, at the same time I felt I wanted to sit on it but due to the undulations in the work I couldn't.
Below also are some images that show the complexity of putting Richard Deacon's work together
It was an enjoyable exhibition below is some info on Richard Deacon and an interview given by him on you tube.
Richard Deacon was born in Bangor, Wales, in 1949. He studied at Somerset College of Art, Taunton (1968), St Martin's School of Art (1970-3) and the Royal College of Art (1974-7( where he gained an Ma in Enviromental Media. The exhibition is curated by Clarrie Wallis with Sofia Karamani.
Below is an interview of Richard Deacon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIqBdDApU04
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