Conrad Hartley Pelham Shawcross (born 26 April 1977) is a British artist specializing in mechanical

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

s based on philosophical and scientific ideas. Shawcross is the youngest living member of the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

Early life

Born in London, Shawcross is the son of biographer

William Shawcross William Hartley Hume Shawcross (born 28 May 1946, in Sussex, England) is a British writer and commentator, and a former Chairman of the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Education Shawcross was educated at St Aubyns Preparatory School ...

and the novelist, mythographer and cultural historian

Marina Warner Dame Marina Sarah Warner, (born 9 November 1946) is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth. She has written for many publicat ...

. Shawcross studied at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, the

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

, the

Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art The Ruskin School of Art, known as the Ruskin, is an art school at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division. History The Ruskin grew out the Oxford School of Art, which was founded in 1865 and later became ...

(while a member of

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more form ...

), and the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised a ...

(

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

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 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 D ...

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. In December 2004, Shawcross' commission ''Continuum'' opened at the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

, Greenwich, an installation on time and maritime themes made specifically to match the history and architecture of the venue, the

Queen's House Queen's House is a former royal residence built between 1616 and 1635 near Greenwich Palace, a few miles down-river from the City of London and now in the London Borough of Greenwich. It presently forms a central focus of what is now the Old Ro ...

.) 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. Several of Shawcross' works were shown in the inaugural exhibition at Turner Contemporary in Margate in 2011. 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. In 2015, a new series of permanent sculptures, ''Three Perpetual Chords'' was unveiled in Dulwich Park, London, following a commission by

Southwark Council Southwark London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. History There have previously been a numbe ...

advised by the

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museums ...

to replace works by Barbara Hepworth that were stolen in 2011. 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. 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'', an ambitious collaboration with the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

and

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

for the Cultural Olympiad. Shawcross was Artist in Residence at the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...

, 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 The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, s ...

. On

Greenwich Peninsula The Greenwich Peninsula is an area of Greenwich in South East London, England. It is bounded on three sides by a loop of the Thames, between the Isle of Dogs to the west and Silvertown to the east. To the south is the rest of Greenwich, to the s ...

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, is clad in a complex metal cladding formed of hundreds of triangular patterns, designed by Shawcross.

Personal life

Shawcross previously had a long-term relationship with theatre and opera director

Sophie Hunter Sophie Irene Hunter (born 16 March 1978) is an English theatre director, playwright and former actress and singer. She made her directorial debut in 2007 co-directing the experimental play ''The Terrific Electric'' at the Barbican Pit after her ...

whom he met while studying at Oxford. The couple split in early 2010. In 2013, Shawcross married Italian Artist Carolina Mazzolari; they have one son, Hartley Bruce Cy.

References

External links

Conrad Shawcross
Victoria Miro Gallery
"Art in London: Not ticking"
''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'', 4 August 2013
Roundhouse.org.uk; Conrad Shawcross – Timepiece (videos available)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shawcross, Conrad 1977 births Living people Sculptors from London British people of English descent British people of Italian descent British people of Spanish descent People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Alumni of the Ruskin School of Art Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Royal Academicians English male sculptors 21st-century sculptors English contemporary artists Conrad Sharwcross