Conrad Shawcross, the artist selected to create a new commission, which will replace the stolen sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, in Dulwich Park, will be there to unveil his work, on Saturday 18 April.
In 2012, Southwark Council appointed the Contemporary Art Society to manage the artist commissioning process for a new artwork for Dulwich Park. Following a public consultation and deliberation by the Dulwich Park Commission Steering Group, Conrad Shawcross was selected to create the new commission, which will honour the original sculpture by Barbara Hepworth.
His design, Three Perpetual Chords, has been selected from a shortlist also including proposals by artists Anya Galaccio, Ryan Gander and Eva Rothschild. The design is a series of cast iron sculptures, each created in relation to the mathematical patterns found in music. The artist describes these forms as “visual descriptions of musical chords.” Roughly human height, the sculptures will be sequenced, leading visitors through an unexpected series of encounters in the park.
Conrad Shawcross is widely acknowledged as one of the leading artists of his generation. Shawcross, along with Chris Ofili and Mark Wallinger, was invited to create works inspired by Titian’s masterpieces for the project Metamorphosis: Titian 2012, an ambitious collaboration with the National Gallery and Royal Ballet for the Cultural Olympiad.
Imbued with an appearance of scientific rationality, Conrad Shawcross’s sculptures and installations explore subjects that lie on the borders of geometry and philosophy, physics and metaphysics. Significant solo exhibitions have taken place at Musée d’art moderne duGrand-Duc Jean (MUDAM), Luxembourg (2012), the Science Museum, London (2011-2012) and Turner Contemporary, Margate (2011). His first public commission, Space Trumpet, for the Unilever Building, London won an Art and Work Award in 2008.
Photo: Conrad Shawcross, Visualisation Three Perpetual Chords © The artist.
There will be a public launch of the works in Dulwich Park on Saturday 18 April 2015, 14.00.