Richard Deacon: What You See Is What You Get

Among the artists who redefined British sculpture in the 1980s, Richard Deacon (born 1949) remains a pioneering figure. This book presents the full range of the artist’s oeuvre, from freestanding sculptures and wall-mounted works to glazed ceramics and works on paper. Deacon sidesteps the issue of technique: nails, screws and mounts are not hidden in his sculptures, and willowy bent-wood pieces contrast with carefully engineered constructions in galvanized steel and welded polycarbonate.
Like the tension in so many of Deacon’s titles, this book suggests a paradox. As with the whole of the artist’s oeuvre, the selection in this book—spanning more than 30 years—is based on contradictions: the tension between a word and its meaning.