Richard Deacon

In “Twist and Shout,” Richard Deacon induces a dialogue between geometric abstraction and organic structure, creating a hybrid and symbolic language while confronting medium, shape, and size through a series of sculptures made of wood, aluminum, ceramic, and resin. An interplay between two- and three-dimensional sculptures further emphasizes the sense of duality pervading the exhibition.

In the main gallery, Strut, 2010, a large-scale work constructed from intertwined beams of twisted wood, stretches from the floor to the ceiling. Here, the artist attempts to translate an engineering component (the strut) into an elemental language of sorts: The twisted steamed-wood beams are reminiscent of a spring, yet their haphazard assembly results in a nonfunctional outcome. Though similar in materials and size, All Grow Up, 2010—comprising wooden columns bundled upright into a rectangular column—conveys the opposite experience via its composition. While in Strut, the organic overpowers the geometric, in All Grow Up the organic is reduced to a geometric abstraction, a metaphor, a symbol of growth: The perfectly vertical wooden beams protrude neatly from a wooden base. Alphabet B, 2009, an asymmetrical juxtaposition of concentric aluminum triangles surrounding an irregular heptagon, leans against a wall like a three-dimensional drawing. It is a further illustration of the interplay between man-made and biomorphic in Deacon’s work: While the building blocks are abstract (triangles and polygons), Deacon introduces imperfection and irregularity, giving the works a natural feel.