Richard Deacon

Tate Britain presents a major exhibition of the work of Turner Prize winner Richard Deacon that celebrates his innovative use of form and his interest in a diverse range of materials.

Consisting of approximately 30 works, the Tate’s chronological survey about Richard Deacon’s work includes large, mid-scale and small sculptures shown alongside a series of important drawings.

Deacon is known for open structures where form is described not by its shape but by its boundary or edge. A number of such works are shown in the exhibition. These include After, 1998, a huge serpentine form which balances volume, space and material in a way that plays with the viewers’ sense of interior and exterior. Its continuous and looping form explores depth, surface and structure.

Richard Deacon Tate — Richard Deacon , *Lock*, 1990,  Weltkunst Foundation. Photo: Volker Döhne © Richard Deacon

Deacon has consistently described himself as a “fabricator” – a maker of things who places emphasis on the construction and manipulation of materials. This is highlighted by a group of works from his Art for Other People series which started in 1982, made with a diverse range of everyday materials including steel, foam, rubber, chrome, leather and marble. The show also includes a series of early drawings collectively titled It’s Orpheus When There’s Singing, 1978. These have been of great importance in the making of subsequent sculptures, especially those that develop the possibilities of organic and curved forms, and in his thinking about language and communication.

The challenges Deacon sets himself grow from the nature of his materials and their relationship to an evolving form. His interest in material diversity has led him to produce experimental new works in cardboard and ceramic, whilst expanding his vocabulary with other materials. For example, Out of Order, 2003, is constructed from ribbons of steamed wood, twisted and frozen as if in an agitated state.

until April 27, 2014
Richard Deacon
curated by Clarrie Wallis with Sofia Karamani
Tate Britain
Millbank, London

Richard Deacon

Tate Britain presents a major exhibition of the work of Turner Prize winner Richard Deacon that celebrates his innovative use of form and his interest in a diverse range of materials.

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