KAREN WILKIN
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read as discoveries, such as repetitions of screws or rivets, insis–
tent patterns of fastening tabs and so on, function in recent sculp–
tures as signature flourishes, mannerisms or decorations rather
than as expressions of structural necessity.
Both the touring show and the Paris exhibition included
large sculptures made of open metal channels, like giant rain–
water gutters of ventilation ducts. Deacon creates complex, curved
"skeletons" by fastening small increments of duct together (with
tabs and rivets, of course). From some viewpoints, the outlined
fruit and vegetable forms that have haunted his early work reap–
pear, but the chief impression is of a relentless exercise in fasten–
ing things together, connecting point to point, establishing right–
angle intersections. Method takes precedence over result. In his
slender laminated sculptures, Deacon presses bands of wood into
sinuous arcs and tight curves. There's a look of struggle in these
pieces. The glue drips and clots between layers of wood; the arcs
seem forced into existence. But Deacon often allows the lami–
nated members to extend far beyond the limits of the sculpture's
"force field," simply because the prolongation of a particular
curve would extend that far; as a result, energy dissipates.
Deacon likes symmetry, mirror-image constructions. There
are momentarily confusing views through his looping, outlined
sculptures, but as you move around the pieces, the rationality of
the structure manifests itself. So far, so good, but often, once you
grasp the system, the piece becomes expected, predictable and
less interesting. Once again, process is more engaging than re–
sult.
Critics have hailed Deacon as some sort of savior of contem–
porary sculpture. Clearly, he is extremely gifted and clearly, too,
he is posing important questions about what constitutes sculptural
form. In his most audacious works, which combine, among
other things, the language of tailoring with that of the building
trades, he questions what sculpture can encompass. They are po–
tent and absorbing notions but, so far, at least, the ideas implicit in
Deacon's work-as in many of his colleagues'-are more inter–
esting and challenging than the objects he builds.
I've said that this kind of reexamination of the limits and
physical properties of sculpture is not restricted to the young. For
the last five or six years, Anthony Caro, the British master of
economical construction in steel, has explored the possibilities of
