Tim Shaw
The need to shape and form material into something that expresses meaning and emotion is an instinctual one that fundamentally underpins my artistic practice. It is an activity that connects contemporary life with prehistoric existence. The mirroring of humanity’s ideas and beliefs over thousands of years is something that is profoundly important and moving.
My work, which is essentially figurative, delves into the nature of the human psyche and has elements that are political, metaphysical and mythological. Themes of ritual and conflict reoccur. There is an attempt to understand the nature of who we are through a process of reduction: stripping back the human condition to its primordial bare bones. I am particularly interested in the aspects of humanity that do not change. To give an example, the photo image of the Abu Ghraib tortured prisoner has the appearance of an ancient relic that could have been dug out of the earth from long ago.
The creative process is something that I need to experience first hand. This unpredictable journey with its twists and turns, its frustrations and breakthroughs, contains a unique expressiveness that imprints upon the work. I have created immersive installations that integrate elements of light, sound and smell with sculpted form. This multi-sensory aspect of contemporary practise engages with a culture more used to experiencing moving image. Theme and subject matter often directs the choice of medium and scale. Sometimes a small free-standing form expresses everything that needs to be said.
In classical Greece, when priests entered the inner sanctum of the temple of Athena, they stood in fear before the gargantuan statue, believing that the fashioned marble, ivory and cast gold contained within, the spirit of the Virgin Goddess. The idea that an artwork could contain inner life or numinous presence is something that I find compelling, as it is what engages the imagination.
Tim Shaw
1964 b. Belfast
1985 - 89 Falmouth College of Art, BA (Hons) Fine Art: First Class
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Fág an Bealach (Clear the Way) Anima Mundi, St Ives
2018 Beyond Reason, San Diego Museum Of Art, California, USA
What Remains, The Exchange, Penzance
2017 Something Is Not Quite Right, Anima Mundi, St Ives
2016 The Birth of Breakdown Clown, Kate Hamburger Kolleg, Germany 2015 Mother The Air is Blue, The Air is Dangerous, FE McWilliam Gallery, NI
Time Got Kicked Around, Kappatos Gallery, Athens, Greece
2014 Black Smoke Rising, touring exhibition, Mac Birmingham and
Aberystwyth Arts Centre
2013 Awaken from the Dream of Reality, Millennium Gallery, St.Ives
2012 Soul Snatcher Possession, Riflemaker, London
2011 Origins of The Drummer, Millennium Gallery, St. Ives
2009 Riflemaker at The Kenneth Armitage Foundation, London
2008 Casting A Dark Democracy, Kenneth Armitage Foundation
Future History, Goldfish Fine Art, Cornwall
2006 No Title, Goldfish Fine Art, Cornwall
2005 Fragments from the Middle World, Truro Cathedral
1999 La Corrida ~ Dreams In Red, Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall
1997 La Corrida ~ Dreams In Red, Duncan Campbell Gallery, London
1995 Fragments from Middle World, Duncan Campbell Gallery, London
1992 Fragments from Middle World, Albemarle Gallery, London
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Common Ground, Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
2024 Unnavigated, Whitstable Arts Festival
2024 Annual Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy
2024 Annual Open Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast
2024 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2023 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2021 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2021 Thresholds, Anima Mundi, St Ives
2021 Annual Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy
2021 Castles of Sand, Anima Mundi, St Ives
2020 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2020 Beyond Ourselves, Anima Mundi, St Ives (online)
2020 Renaming the Decameron, Flowers, London (online)
2019 Fire: Flashes To Ashes In British Art 1962-2019, Royal West of England Academy
2019 Face To Face Auction House, Warsaw, Poland
2019 Sculpture Open Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy
2019 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2018 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2017 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
The Force of Nature, London; Curated by James Putnam,
Sublunary, The Baldwin Gallery, London
Annual Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
London Art Fair; Anima Mundi
2016 From Silence, Herrick Gallery, London
The Collective, House of St. Barnabus, London;
Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland
2015 Homo Sapiens, Beaux Arts, London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2014 Reflections of War, Flowers Gallery, London
Back From the Front, RWA, Bristol
Out of Our Heads, Shoreditch Town Hall, London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2013 Rituals are tellers of us, Newlyn Art Gallery
Dark Rooms, Old School Helston
2012 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Sculptors’ Drawings, Works on Paper, Pangolin Gallery
PiH Contemporaries Auction, Bonhams London
Launch Exhibition, Threadneedle Space, London
2011 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
The Exquisite Trove, Newlyn Art Gallery
The Sculpture Show, Mullan Gallery, Belfast
2010 Material Worlds, F.E McWilliam Gallery, Northern Ireland
AWARDS AND PRIZES
2024 PSSA Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture
2021 Arts Council England, Project Grant
2021 Arts Council England, DYCP Grant
2015-16 Elected Honorary member of the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Resident Artist Fellowship: Kate Hamburger Kolleg, Bonn, Germany
Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture, Royal Academy
2014 Resident Artist, Kappatos Gallery, Athens
2013 Elected Member to the Royal Academy of Art, London
Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, London
Elected Honorary Fellow, Falmouth University, Cornwall
2008 The Federation of British Artists Selectors Prize, Threadneedle, London
2006 Kenneth Armitage Sculpture Fellowship, London
2005 The Mullan Prize, Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, NI
Prince of Wales Bursary Award, The British School at Athens
COLLECTIONS
St.Cross College, Oxford
Bonn University
Arts Council
Carew-Pole Garden Trust
David Roberts Foundation
Delfina Foundation
Eden Project
Boyle Civic Collection
Cornwall County Council
Kenneth Armitage Foundation
Falmouth Art Gallery
British School at Athens
UCA Farnham Collection
PUBLIC SCULPTURE COMMISSIONS
2023 Man On Fire, Imperial War Museum North
2012 The Green Man, Antony House
2009 The Drummer, Lemon Quay
2002 2002 The Minotaur, Royal Opera House Hous
2000 Rites of Dionysus, Eden Project
