Richard Deacon is best known for creating abstract sculptures that allude to anatomical structures and organic forms using elements of engineering as a means of fabrication. Deacon sculptures are often constructed from everyday artefacts such as wood metal and sometimes plastic. Metals are riveted together in smooth shapes which imply both the inner and outer parts of human form, and wood is laminated, curved and twisted into organic shapes, and unlikely ribbons. His work explores the relationship between body and space, interior and exterior, self and other. And since the 1970’s Deacon’s work has further explored the relations between the literal and the metaphoric.
Deacon works on both a domestic and monumental scale. Many of his large-scale sculptures such as What Could Make Me Feel This Way ‘A’ or Like A Snail ‘B’ recall chassis or ribcages from the human body. These forms vary, as some loop and curve across the room, while others float across the floor like large drops of liquid.
His monumental public works range from sets of gates for cities, to sculptures situated in public squares and parks, to backdrops for performances. For example, in 1993 he collaborated with Hervu Robbe and Dominique Fabrigue to design the sets and costumes for a dance which was performed by La Ferme du Buisson from Paris. Deacon used to actively participate in his works, at the start of his career, but later saw there was no need for his physical presence. His large-scale works are complemented by smaller-scale works such as Art for Other People, an ongoing series which combined an extensive range of everyday industrial materials, which are shaped into sculptural forms. The Infinity series is another example, form the 1990’s which consisted of a number of stainless steel works with ‘pin cushion’ like surface which responded to the light bouncing off the high points and flickering across the surface as if it were liquid.
Richard Deacon has successfully been able to fashion abstract sculptures by using various materials, to create oragnic and anaomatical forms.
Book References:
- Eleanor Heartney, Art and Today. (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2008).
- Jon Thompson, Pier Luigi Tazzi, Peter Schjeldahl, Penelope Curtis, Richard Deacon. (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1995)
- Clarrie Wallis and Edmund de Waal, Richard Deacon: Out of Order (London: Tate Trustees 2005)
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1 comment:
thank you so much for making mine look like shite :D
his work looks amazing tho, i love "what could make me feel this way A"
reminds me of a snake skeleton. image the hours that went into that..
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