Artist Spotlight I Richard Deacon
All of [my ceramics] basically begin with a small lump which is pushed, pulled, squeezed, twisted, rolled, poked, carved etc… The resulting sculptures are very much unitary objects… and I find the question of their identity compelling.
- Richard Deacon, 2005
Richard Deacon
Like You Know, 2002
Glazed ceramic
80 x 135 x 114 cm
31 ½ x 53 ¼ x 45 in.
Richard Deacon’s ceramic, Like You Know, drips with layers of blue, purple, and green glaze, its angular trapezoid form urging the viewer to consider it from every angle. This work is emblematic of Deacon’s masterful control of sculptural form, and his ability to push the boundaries of material capabilities.
Like You Know was created at Niels Dietrich’s internationally reputed ceramic workshop in Cologne, where Deacon has worked regularly since the late 1990s.
Widely regarded as one of Britain’s leading sculptors, Richard Deacon’s practice is characterised by his imaginative exploration of material qualities. Working with wood, metal, paper, plastics, cloth, leather, vinyl, and ceramic, his hugely influential visual language explores the relationship between depth, mass, and volume. Transformation is an abiding motif in his work, as the inexactness in experimentation pays a significant role in his process. The elemental uncertainty of working with ceramics, as uncontrolled reactions take place in the kiln, allow for traces of construction to remain visible in the finished sculpture, and for striking abstraction and organic form to be accentuated.
Richard Deacon
Still Water 2/04/21, 2021
Ink on blotting paper
40 x 52 cm
15.7 x 20.47 in
Framed Size 51.5 x 63.5 cm
Framed Size 20.2 x 25 in
Enquire
Richard Deacon
Still Water 13/15/21, 2021
Ink on blotting paper
40 x 52 cm
15.7 x 20.4 in
Framed Size 51.5 x 63.5 cm
Framed Size 1ft 8 in x 2ft 1 in.
Enquire
Richard Deacon
Still Water 9/03/21, 2021
Ink on blotting paper
40 x 52 cm
15.7 x 20.47 in
Framed Size 51.5 x 63.5 cm
Framed Size 20.2 x 25 in
Enquire
Richard Deacon CBE RA was born in Bangor, Wales, in 1949. After studying at Somerset College of Art in Taunton, he went on to receive his BA from St Martin’s School of Art, and subsequently an MA in Environmental Media from the Royal College of Art in 1977. Deacon’s career has spanned over four decades, with exhibitions that include Tread, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria (2023); Harbour, Lisson Gallery, Shanghai (2022); Richard Deacon: Fourfold Way, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany (2021); Nevermind, Middelheim Museum, Antwerp Belgium (2017); What You See Is What You Get, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, USA (2017); and Richard Deacon, Tate Britain, London (2014).
In 1987, Richard Deacon received the Turner Prize, and in 1996, he was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the Ministry of Sculpture, France. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1998, and was made a CBE in 1999. He represented Wales at the Venice Biennale in 2007, and participated in the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2012. His teaching activities include professorships at Chelsea School of Art, the London Institute, and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Richard Deacon works in London.
The New Art Centre has worked with Richard Deacon for many years. His first exhibition at Roche Court Sculpture Park opened in 2004, with several subsequent exhibitions. Periodically his work has been shown in collaborative shows alongside Bill Woodrow. Deacon and Woodrow have made ‘shared sculpture’ together since 1990, their partnership stimulating their own practices as a result.
Richard Deacon Roche Plate
Roche Plates are special limited edition dining plates that feature designs by artists who have a longstanding relationship with the New Art Centre. In 2016, Richard Deacon designed the first Roche Plate, and its success has led to future collaborations with numerous artists, and a second design by Deacon.
Including VAT.
Part of a limited edition of 500 plates.
English-made fine bone china, manufactured in Stoke-on Trent, UK.
Set of Four £120
Set of Six £175
To purchase sets of four or more plates, please email nac@sculpture.uk.com or call +44 (0) 1980 862 244 for discount pricing.
Shipping will be calculated at checkout.
Richard Deacon’s work can be found in public collections all over the world. These include the Tate Collection, London, UK; British Council Collection, UK; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, USA; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA; Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany; Tokyo Forum, Tokyo, Japan; Stedeljik Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy; V&A Museum, London, UK; and Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany.
Since the beginning of the 1970s, Deacon has written extensively on his own practice
and in relation to contemporary art in general. So, And, If, But – Selected Writing 1970 –
2012 was published (in English and German editions) by Richter Verlag in 2013.
I Wanted To Talk About The Future But I Ended Up Thinking About The Past, an illustrated
lecture, was published by Lisson Gallery in 2019. Richard Deacon: In Between, a ninety-minute film by the film maker Claudia Schmidt, was released in 2013.