TIM SHAW - Fertility Figures Catalogue

MARK BARROW FINE ART

TIM SHAWFertility Figures

Cover image

Fertility Figure IV (2008)

Bronze

DETAIL

MARK BARROW FINE ARTSpecialising in Modern British Art

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TIM SHAWFertility Figures

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1Fertility Figure I (2008)Painted bronze (with feathers & sacking) (edition 8)17¾" high (450mm)

"Shaw has been described as belonging to the tradition of Modern British Sculpture exemplified by Moore, Chadwick and Armitage. The overtness of his storytelling and symbolism can

feel disconcerting in the context of current contemporary art: his works don't trouble themselves with formal or theoretical

justifications, but simply set out to realise the imagery felt in his emotional sinew."

Mark Hudson

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2Fertility Figure II (2008)Bronze (edition 8)19" high (480mm)

"Shaw is part of a British tradition of monumental sculpture going back centuries. He attacks materials and subjects in a

way that feels totally contemporary. The tension between tradition and nowness, between solidity and nightmarish

breakdown, is an organic part of this artist's worldview, whether he's looking at the atrocities of Abu Ghraib or the

sense of primal ritual latent in the landscape surrounding his studio in the remote west of England"

Mark Hudson

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3Fertility Figure III (2008)Painted bronze (edition 8)Painted lead (edition 8)14½" high (370mm)

"'Fertility Figures' is a group of modelled figures that evolved from a large foam sculpture entitled Silenus, which was first

shown at Goldfish Fine Art in 2006. They are rotund and earthy in appearance, and stare as if through old eyes. Like

Padstow’s Obby Oss, their sexuality is neither conventionally pretty nor beautiful, but oddly dark, unsettling and humorous."

Tim Shaw, RA

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4Fertility Figure IV (2008)Painted bronze (with sacking) (edition 8)17¼" high (440mm)

"The work makes reference to lineage, procreation, violence and death. Perhaps the one thing that binds it all together is that most primal of all concerns; which is the need to exist –

the life force itself."

Tim Shaw, RA

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5Fertility Figure V (2008)Painted bronze (edition 8)Painted lead (edition 8)11½ high (290mm)

"My work is often political in nature, as well as being both mythical and metaphysical. I work across a range of different

mediums and scales, creating single forms as well as multi-sensory installations utilising sound and smell. Connecting

these elements is a sense that the work relates to both ancient and modern humanity. Work that possesses a life force of its

own… work that has ‘that something’ which stops the viewer in their tracks."

Tim Shaw, RA

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6Fertility Figure VI (2008)Painted bronze (edition 8)Painted lead (edition 8)11½ high (290mm)

"Tim Shaw stands out like an indestructible lighthouse built on a rock in this sea of [contemporary] trivia, because he is his

own man – he takes risks – he is engaged in a dialogue with the real world and therefore his work has meaning. His work

demonstrates unequivocally that he has passion and, importantly, that he is compassionate. He has great integrity

and is lucky enough to be very skilled in many reaches of the difficult and demanding profession called sculpture"

Professor Michael Sandle RA

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7Fertility Figure VII (2008)Painted bronze (edition 8)Painted lead (edition 8)11½ high (290mm)

"I can point without hesitation to a sculptor who can trounce the lot of them whether they be Saatchi’s present choice or the

sentimental memorialists recently let loose in London – Tim Shaw, unknown and young enough to be still new and capable

of taking risks, old and skilled enough to be seen as in the monumental tradition of Charles Sargent Jagger."

Brian Sewell, The Evening Standard

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TIM SHAW BIOGRAPHY

Tim Shaw RA was born in Belfast in 1964 and currently lives in Cornwall.

Shaw was first introduced to sculpture during his years at the Portora School in Enniskillen. In 1984 he moved to England to continuehis studies, first with an art foundation course at Manchester Polytechnic and then, from 1985 to 1989, a BA (Hons) Fine Art degree atFalmouth University. Shaw returned to Cornwall two years after graduating and has since continued to use the area as a base in between periods of working in London and abroad.

It was during his time at art school that Shaw began work on 'Middle World', a complex sculpture that would continue to develop over the next twenty years. In 2009 the work was shortlisted for the Threadneedle Prize. Larger versions of two of the figures in 'Middle World', 'Angel' and 'Drummer of Light', were exhibited in Truro Cathedral in 2004, prompting either “love or hate” reactions from visitors. Colin Reid, communications officer at the cathedral, commented that the sculptures were challenging to traditional religious concepts, both in their appearance and in the material used for their construction (notably the use of concrete).

From 2000 to 2004, Shaw was also working on a commission from The Eden Project for an installation that would span the entire vine exhibit in the Mediterranean Biome. The resulting work, entitled 'The Rites of Dionysus', is sculpted in copper and draws on the cult of Dionysus and his followers the Maenads for inspiration. An attack of phylloxera that hit the vines in 2002 led to Shaw also sculpting copper vine forms for the space, which the newly planted vines were then grafted onto and would later grow into the shape of.

One of the figures originally intended for this installation was held back at the time due to concerns that it would be found too controversial. These fears were seen to have some foundations when Shaw’s 2007 version of the figure, a three metre high, “naked, portly, and proudly erect” rendering of Silenus, was attacked during its exhibition in a Vyner Street gallery in London’s East End by a man wielding an iron bar, shouting “You’re worshiping the wrong God!” The work was purchased by notable art collector, David Roberts.

The influence of myth, seen in Shaw’s early work, is once again present in his 2008 sculpture, 'Minotaur', a piece that was commissioned to mark the opening of Harrison Birtwistle's Opera, "The Minotaur". After this, however, the more political side to his work becomes increasingly evident with a number of sculptures responding to issues such as terrorism and the war in Iraq. At this time Shaw was working in London as a Fellow sculptor at the Kenneth Armitage Foundation. The main works he produced during this 2006 to 2008 residency were 'Man on Fire: What God of Love Inspires Such Hate in the Hearts of Men', 'Tank on Fire' (awarded the selectors’ choice Threadneedle prize in 2008), and the multi-sensory installation 'Casting a Dark Democracy' – Shaw’s haunting response to the now infamous image of the Abu Ghraib prisoner, described as "one of too few works to engage unequivocally with the reality and human cost of the Iraq war."

Tim Shaw was elected a Royal Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2013.

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013 Awaken from the Dream of Reality, Millennium Gallery, St.Ives2012 Soul Snatcher Possession, Riflemaker, London2013 Parliament, Jam Records, Falmouth, curated by Olivia Gray2011 Origins of The Drummer, Millennium Gallery, St. Ives 2009 Riflemaker at The Kenneth Armitage Foundation, London2008 Casting A Dark Democracy, Armitage Foundation, London2006 No Title, Goldfish Fine Art, Cornwall2005 Fragments from the Middle World, Truro Cathedral, Cornwall1999 La Corrida: Dreams In Red, Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall 1997 La Corrida: Dreams In Red, Duncan Campbell Gallery, London1995 Fragments from Middle World, Duncan Campbell, London1992 Fragments from Middle World, Albemarle Gallery, London

PUBLIC SCULPTURE COMMISSIONS

2012 The Green Man, Antony Estate, Torpoint , Cornwall2009-11 The Drummer, Lemon Quay, Truro, Cornwall2008 The Minotaur, The Royal Opera House, London2000-04 Rites of Dionysus, The Eden Project, Cornwall

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2013 Rituals are tellers of us, Newlyn Art Gallery2012 Royal Academy Summer Show, London Sculptors’ Drawings, Pangolin Gallery, London PiH Contemporaries Auction, Bonhams London Launch Exhibition, Threadneedle Space, London2011 Royal Academy Summer Show, London The Sculpture Show , Mullan Gallery, Belfast 2010 Material Worlds, F.E McWilliam Gallery, Northern Ireland2009 Volta, Art Basel, Riflemaker gallery The Sculpture Show , Mullan Galllery , Belfast 2008 Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London2007 Move, Goldfish Fine Art at Vyner Street, London Future History, Goldfish Fine Art, Cornwall Limbo, Truro Arts Festival The Exquisite Trove, Newlyn Art Gallery The House of Fairy Tales, Millennium Gallery, St. Ives In The Mix, Pangolin gallery, London Icons,108 Fine Art, Harrogate Politics Pays Back, Kowalsky Gallery @ DACS, London Margins, Sherborne House Open 07, Sherborne, Dorset Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London2006 Spontaneous Combustion, Newlyn Gallery, Cornwall2005 Royal Ulster Academy, Ulster Museum The Sculpture Show, Mullan Gallery, Belfast

2004 Drawing the Line, Newlyn Art Gallery2003 Drummer of Light, Truro Museum, Cornwall2000 Art 2000, Gordon Hepworth Gallery, London1997 Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London1996 Resident artists, Casa Manilva, Delfina Studio Trust, Spain1993 Images of Christ, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

AWARDS AND PRIZES

2013 Elected Member of the Royal Academy Elected Honorary Fellow, Falmouth School of Art Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors 2008 Federation of British Artists Choice, Threadneedle Prize2006 Kenneth Armitage Sculpture Fellowship Award, London2005 The Mullan Prize, Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition2003 First Prize, Millfield Open1997 Prize Winner, Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London1996 Delfina Studio Trust Award Prince of Wales Bursary Award, The British School at Athens

COLLECTIONS

Arts CouncilCarew-Pole Garden Trust David Roberts Foundation Delfina Foundation Eden Project Boyle Civic CollectionCornwall County CouncilKenneth Armitage FoundationFalmouth Art Gallery CollectionBritish School at Athens UCA Farnham Collection

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TIM SHAW - Fertility Figures Catalogue

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