Richard Deacon: Masters of the Universe

Richard Deacon is widely regarded as one of the foremost sculptors of our time, best known for creating abstract works that combine biomorphic, open forms and virtuoso engineering. Decidedly asymmetrical, Masters of the Universe: Screen Version is a series of sausage-shaped forms, which tilt and interconnect to form a molecule-like cluster. The individual elements range in size from one-and-a-half feet to almost seven feet. From at least one side it appears to sit flat on the ground. Seen from other positions, it looks as though the sculpture is lifting off the ground, angling upward with weightlessness that is uncharacteristic for a large stainless-steel sculpture. For Deacon, this dynamic relationship between the sculpture and its physical surroundings is significant; he views both the solid form of the sculpture and the space contained within it as equally important. Deacon has often written and spoken about the relationship between language and sculpture, noting that "the title falls in between the sculpture and the spectator." Masters of the Universe: Screen Version is a reference to constellations in the nighttime sky. In particular, the artist is interested in the way we name clusters of stars based on the two-dimensional shapes they resemble. He observes that there are an infinite number of different relationships among these stars--we just can't see them from earth.

Artist Bio Born in Bangor, Wales in 1949, Richard Deacon lives and works in London. He was a post-graduate art history student at Chelsea School of Art, London (1977-78), received an MA from the Royal College of Art, London (1974-77), and a BA from St. Martin's School of Art, London (1969-72), doing his foundation studies at Somerset College of Art, Taunton (1968-69). He was awarded the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize in 1987. "The Size of It," a major traveling exhibition of large-scale work from the last ten years, opened at the Museo Artium in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, in June 2005; it travels to the Sara Hilden Art Museum in Tampere, Finland and to the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck in Remagen, Germany. Deacon has had solo exhibitions at the Serpentine, Whitechapel and Tate Galleries in London, and was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery Liverpool in 1990.

Sponsorship This presentation is made possible through the cooperation of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York and The Honorable Adrian Benepe, Commissioner, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Special thanks to Marian Goodman Gallery, New York. Additional thanks to Twin Engineering of Bletchley, England.

Location Masters of the Universe: Screen Version is on view at 60th Street and Fifth Avenue, at the southeast corner of Central Park. Subways: N, R to Fifth Avenue; 4, 5, 6 to 59th Street/Lexington Avenue.

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Richard Deacon: Masters of the Universe - Screen Version
stainless steel
Doris C. Freedman Plaza