Tim Shaw
Beyond Reason
San Diego Museum of Art
Through February 24
Article by Cathy Breslaw
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| Tim Shaw The Birth of Breakdown Clown, 2015 – 2018 Robotic figure with motion and sound; foam, steel, and aluminum Figure: H: 80” W: 32.5” D:21” Wooden platform H: 8ft W: 4ft D: 4ft |
Irish-born artist Tim Shaw’s Beyond Reason show at the San Diego Museum of Art
is his debut exhibition in the United States. Deputy Curator for Curitorial Affairs, Anita
Feldman, comments in the exhibition catalog: “ In the daily lives of many of
us, there is a sense that we are cocooned from the outside world. We read of
terrorist events on our mobile phones, see them in distant-and not-so-distant
places on T.V. Shaw’s work draws us
closer to the reality of these conflicts and dares us to engage with them,
challenging us to ask questions about society’s role or silent complicity.”
Shaw’s works include six
immersive installations. Upon entering
the museum spaces Shaw’s works occupy, the overall very low lighting throughout
creates an alternative context and brings us into the metaphysical and
psychologically charged world of Shaw’s making.
The first work we encounter is Middle
Worlds,(1989-present) a large sculptural installation created with cement,
steel and lead. Produced over twenty years’ time, it also includes small
figures in bronze and terracotta arranged upon a tall vessel that is part
altar, part pinball machine while beneath it stalagmite-looking forms reminding
us of geological time. The figures appear to be in front of a large theater
stage, or entrance to a grand ancient building, including symbols of various centuries
and ages, where Vulcan bombers and satellites appear adjacent to mythological, Christian
and secular symbols. There is a sense of eeriness and gloom, and a suspension
of time.
We next encounter Mother, The Air is Blue, The Air is
Dangerous (2014). This immersive room installation has its roots in Shaw’s seven
year-old childhood memory in Belfast when he witnessed a bombing in a
restaurant along with his mother and sister. Having occurred on the historic Black
Friday, 1972 when the IRA set off over 20 bombs over the entire city, Shaw
recreates this low-lit deep blue lighted scene with over-thrown chairs and
tables, food trays suspended randomly in the air while photos of victims lie on
tables and the sounds of intense sirens are heard in the room. Shadows of
people running across streets are projected onto the walls of this chaotic
scene. As viewers, we share a terrorizing moment with Shaw’s experience.
The next work encountered is Defending Integrity from the Powers That Be (2017).
This mixed media automated sculpture and sound installation includes two
life-sized figures created from metal armatures, old clothes, pillows and
stockings. The male and female figures are facing one another while rocking
back and forth upon curved ski-like metal forms. Their insides are ripped open
revealing wires, and old radio speakers and their mouths are stuffed with money
preventing their ability to speak. Highlighting their feelings of helplessness, perhaps it is fear, greed, or
complicity but Shaw seems to be saying that silence has its price.
Soul Snatcher Possession (2011-2012) is the next immersive installation we encounter which
includes eight life-size figures in a low lit fabricated room with well worn
damaged walls, a fireplace and lit with naked
light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. When entering through a long corridor ,we
push open an old beat up door and see four figures huddled in distinctive
positions around a crowded central hooded figure appearing to be harassed or
intimidated. With rough textures of clothing haphazardly sewn, and worn shoes, these
figures were created with metal armatures, old clothes, pillows and stockings. One figure is of a blind man in the corner
with a cane searches the area, while a female figure reclines against another
wall with a stocking stretched over her face, and a syringe close-by on the
floor. A nearby man is watching her, and in another corner is a kneeling male
figure as if in prayer or asking for help. For the viewer, there is a
claustrophobic feeling inside this room as well as a visceral intensity that is
both disturbing and provocative. These unsettled feelings provoke questions –
Are we confronting evil or fear or both, or our own humanity and the limits of
our civility?
Alternative Authority (2017) is a life-size mixed media sculpture of a woman,
tarred and feathered and tied to a lamp-post. Created with metal armature,
pillows, old clothes and stockings, her face hidden from view, and is slumped
downward and covered with tar and tons of feathers. This work references 1970s’
Ireland when the IRA punished women who fraternized with police or British
soldiers and publicly humiliated them in
public squares. Other women and community members were thought to take part in
this public shaming and the resulting psychological and physical scarring for
life.
Shaw’s last work is The Birth of Breakdown Clown (2015-2018)
which is a robotic life size naked figure with motion and sound, made of foam,
steel and aluminum. This performance
piece is a “robot” that moves its hands, arms, head and eyes while presenting a
monologue speaking to his “audience”. During the 15 plus minutes speech the
robot comments: “We are no different.
All just wires, soft flesh hung onto hard form. Impulses running down the those
stringy bits. And when the life force leaves the form, and the water
evaporates, we are dust. You and me….” In this work, the viewer becomes the
subject. After the monologue the robot encourages viewers to ask questions and
a short conversation ensues. Shaw searches for the dialogue between where
Artificial Intelligence begins and the place where human beings reside – the
space between humanity and machine.
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| Tim Shaw Mother, The Air Is Blue, The Air Is Dangerous, 2014 Immersive gallery installation (Personal effects including, coats, bags, shoes and photographs. Chairs, tables, revolving trays, projected images, sound and haze) Room Dimensions H: 10ft x W: 31.5ft x L: 36ft |
Tim Shaw Soul Snatcher Possession, 2011-2012
Immersive gallery installation (Eight large life-size figures in low lit fabricated room with
corridor; old clothes, pillows, stockings, on steel armatures).
Room dimensions (including corridor) H: 8 ft x W: 21ft x L: 23ft
The Birth
Immersive gallery installation (Eight large life-size figures in low lit fabricated room with
corridor; old clothes, pillows, stockings, on steel armatures).
Room dimensions (including corridor) H: 8 ft x W: 21ft x L: 23ft
The Birth
