Richard Deacon: Looking for Something

“Richard Deacon is a sculptor whose decades-long sculptural practice stands as a notable and distinctive example of a continuous enquiry and persistent challenge of the constants and conventions of Western European sculptural tradition, as well as their redefinition and re-conceptualisation within the context of contemporary sculpture and Contemporary Art.

The exhibition features Deacon’s series of small and medium-sized sculptures made from various materials: UW84DC and In the Woods (Ghost, Bear, Small Bear, Bat, Beast) made in wood, Tread made in stainless steel, and Made of This in glazed ceramic. These pieces were predominantly created over the past two years. Additionally, the exhibition includes a series of digital prints on polyester entitled Second Motif, featuring enlarged drawings created on the iPhone Notes app. Deacon’s work is characterized by a systematic approach to materials and a clear methodology that transforms these materials into visual interpretations. This process results in aesthetic objects of exceptional and sophisticated simplicity, rich in meaning and associations, transparently showcasing their origins. In his new sculptures, Deacon continues to explore the dynamic correlations of form and perception, the outer and the inner, mass and void, volume and space, the relationships between depth, surface, and structure, as well as the abstract and the in(direct), “fact and fiction” (RD). He also examines the interplay between the autonomy of words and their ambiguities on the one hand, and the sculptural form and its translation into associations, verbal descriptions, and potential meanings, on the other.”

Excerpts from the text by Jasmina Čubrilo, phD, printed for the exhibition Richard Deacon, U potrazi za neĉim/Looking for Something, Galerija Dots, Beograd, 2024 

The exhibition is realized in collaboration with the British Council North Macedonia, Dot Gallery, the British Embassy in Skopje and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.