Tim Shaw 'Awaken From the Dream of Reality'

T i m S h a w A w a k e n F r o m T h e D r e a m o f R e a l i t y
Following the torches as they dipped and swayed in the darkness,
they climbed mountain paths with head thrown back and eyes glazed,
dancing to the beat of the drum which stirred their blood (or ‘staggered
drunkenly with what was known as the Dionysus gait’) ‘In this state
of ekstasis or enthusiasmos, they abandoned themselves, dancing wildly
and shouting ‘Euoi!’ (the god’s name) and at that moment of intense
rapture became identified with the god himself. They became filled with
his spirit and acquired divine powers.
Euripides in Delphi by Peter Hoyle

For the modern astronomer one universe is not enough. New observations suggest
other universes separate from our own. Strange quirks in the radiation from the Big
Bang from which our universe exploded billions of years ago may indicate the pull
of other universes that predate the one we know. Out there, things may not be as
they have seemed.
On a parallel path, artists have long realised that behind our personal experience lie
other worlds. This is the realm of Tim Shaw’s art; the meeting of the conscious and
the unconscious mind. Throughout his career, Shaw has felt that it’s his job to draw
out something from these other worlds and present them to us. In ‘Awaken from
the Dream of Reality’ he does so by examining one of the oldest forms of human
activity – ritual.
All rituals have one key component – repetition. It’s through repetition that ritual
does its work. Each ritual, old or new, has its established form, place and date
in our lives: the baptism of children, the ringing of bells, singing a sacred song,
passing round the wine or a joint, placing the mobile phone always just
so on the table, lovers undressing, updating Facebook, pouring out the tea,
laying out the dead. All these rituals take the everyday and load it with an
added experience of being human, being individuals, yet together. For Tim
Shaw ritual goes further. As for the ancients, for Shaw ritual is a door into
another world. He has long been fascinated by human beings’ need to dissolve
normality, leave reason behind and reach deeper into our selves. According to Carl
Jung, we can only be complete human beings if we reconcile the workings of our
conscious and unconscious minds. Tim Shaw instinctively recognises this as a human
need. For this reason, ritualistic figures are recurring motifs in his work.
Because of this, each year on May Day, Shaw is to be found wearing his habitual
fedora among the crowd at Padstow for the Obby Oss Festival. Anyone who has
followed this festival will attest to its strange hold over its participants.
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The Oss itself looks little like a horse, nor any hobby horse for that matter; it’s a
black cylindrical drum propelled wildly by a man wearing what looks like an African
mask. As the Oss whirls and sways violently through the village, it is accompanied by
drummers and initiates garlanded with spring flowers and occasionally lubricated by
beer. The Oss is fun but also violent and predatory. It rushes up to young women,
taking them under its black skirts, bestowing fertility. In a softer mood, it stops at the
homes of the elderly, bowing tenderly to the inhabitants in a form of benediction.
The link is forged between sexuality, death and rebirth.
In late evening the crowd sings the Oss a lullaby. Tears stream down faces,
fingertips stretch out for one last blessing before the Oss goes into its stable until the
following spring. The ritual ends, the Oss sleeps, the village snaps out of the dream.
Time rushes forward again, the fishing boats bob in the harbour, there are children to
get to school. But the inner spirit is refreshed, the life force recharged. Shaw also sees
a further dimension: the oscillating movement of the Oss is reminiscent of waves on
a shore, evoking Padstow’s maritime tradition.
In the exhibition, the Obby Oss is represented both in maquette form and in video.
Shaw’s work emphasises the role of release – and pleasure - through ritual, the
intensity of feeling unavailable in the daily round. At a music festival in 2009 he
watched a fantastically dressed couple cavort under the influence of ketamine. In the
work entitled ‘K’, two masked figures dance crazily under the spell of the drug. With
characteristic humour, Shaw has referred to this work by an alternative title, ‘The
Bisto Kids Gone Wrong.’ It is apt: one dancer swings wildly, offering the drug on a
ladle while, mid-gyration, the other dancer dips forward and accepts the offering, its
face surreally distorted to sprout a bee-like proboscis. They are suspended in time
for Shaw has transfixed them in sculpture. The moment has the transgressive power
of a pagan Annunciation.
In ‘The Rites of Dionysus’, figures also dance, inhabiting a trance-like sensuality in
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in which they can be penetrated by the god and become exalted. The figures on show
are maquettes for the full-scale installation at the Eden Project near St Austell. In
this major commission, Shaw was asked to create a work based on man’s relationship
with the vine. The god’s followers, the Maenads, dance in a frenzy among the vines.
In the centre stands Dionysus in his guise as a bull, representing what Shaw calls ‘the
wild force of nature.’
There’s a further link to the Obby Oss with the Armagh Rhymers. In their
anthropomorphic costumes they suggest a world in which our human and animal
natures conjoin. What is hedonism, enquires Shaw, if it is not to break us out of
the humdrum into the magnificent and transformative – and perhaps even towards
something dangerous? When The Doors sang, ‘Break on through to the other side’
they called for an experience Shaw would endorse.
The Rhymers are represented here in the three-screen video installation ‘Awake from
the Dream of Reality’; including images of the Obby Oss festival and the Ottery St
Mary Tar Barrels carnival.
Having long ago turned its back on major Christian themes such as the Holy Family,
Western art has not abandoned its interest in the transcendent. So much of the finest
modern art has sprung from the spiritual – Malevich, Kandinsky, Brancusi, among
others. Shaw’s work calls out in continuation. As the visitor to the exhibition moves
from floor to floor, from room to room, he or she will be struck by the range of
Shaw’s work and its sources, but also by the unity in diversity.
Tim Shaw’s art is timely work in uncertain times. It’s a call to embrace the physical
and the nonphysical – an echo of W B Yeats’s great aching enquiry: ‘how can we
know the dancer from the dance?’ Shaw suggests we can all dance and be the better
for it.
Don Jordan, 2013
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T H E R I T E S O F D I O N Y S U S

8

Rites of Dionysus I, II, III
archival print on paper (ed 16) | 46 x 46 cm
9

‘The Night’ (Maquette for The Rites of Dionysus)
bronze (ed 3) | 170 (width) x 120 (depth) x 23 (height) cm
10

11

12

Maenad I
bronze (ed 8) | 30 cm (height)
13

Maenad II
bronze (ed 8) | 20 cm (height)
14

Maenad III
bronze (ed 8) | 20 cm (height)
15

Maenad IV
bronze (ed 8) | 20 cm (height)
16

Maenad V
bronze (ed 8) | 19 cm (height)
17

Maenad VI
bronze (ed 8) | 22 cm (height)
18

19

20
R i t u a l s

21

22

Obby Oss & Dancers
bronze (ed 8) | 28 cm (height) x 66 (width) x 50 (length)
23

Obby Oss in Front of the Crucifixion
bronze (ed 8) | 40 cm (height) x 66 (width x 50 (length)
24

25

26

Obby Oss
bronze (ed 8) | 40 cm (height)
27

Awaken from the Dream of Reality
film stills
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29

30

11 th July
archival print on paper (ed 3) | 24 x 33 cm (each image)
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‘In intoxication, physical or spiritual, the initiate recovers an intensity
of feeling which prudence had destroyed; he finds the world full of
delight and beauty, and his imagination is suddenly liberated from the
prison of everyday preoccupations’
Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy
K
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31

34

Ketamine
mixed media lifesize sculpture installation
35

K 1 Maquette
bronze (ed 8) | 18 cm (height) x 35 (width) cm
36

37

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K 2 Maquette
bronze (ed 8) | 18 cm (height) x 48 (width) cm
39

Benediction 1
archival print on paper (ed 16) | 97 x 71 cm
40

Benediction 2
archival print on paper (ed 16) | 97 x 71 cm
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SELECTED EXHIBITIONS (BOLD DENOTES CATALOGUE)
2013 Awaken From The Dream of Reality, Millennium (Solo)
Bronze, De Queeste, Belgium
Rituals are Tellers of Us, Newlyn Art Gallery
Limbo, Truro Arts Festival
Dark Rooms, Old School, Helston
2012 Why Bother with the Truth When the Myth is More Important, Riflemaker, London (Solo)
Parliament, Jam Records, Falmouth, Curated by Olivia Gray (Solo)
Royal Academy Summer Show, London
Sculptors’ Drawings, Works on Paper, Pangolin Gallery London
PiH Contemporaries Auction, Bonhams London
Launch Exhibition, Threadneedle Space, London
2011 Origins of The Drummer, Millennium, St. Ives (Solo)
Royal Academy Summer Show, London
The Exquisite Trove, Newlyn Art Gallery
2010 Material Worlds, F.E McWilliam Gallery, Northern Ireland
The House of Fairy Tales, Millennium, St. Ives
2009 Riflemaker at The Kenneth Armitage Foundation, London (Solo)
Volta, Art Basel
In The Mix, Pangolin Gallery, London
2008 Casting A Dark Democracy, Kenneth Armitage Foundation, London (Solo)
Future History, Goldfish Fine Art, Cornwall (Solo)
Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London
Icons, 108 Fine Art, Harrogate
2007 Move, Goldfish Fine Art at Vyner Street, London
Politics Pays Back, Kowalsky Gallery @ DACS, London
Margins, Sherborne House Open 07, Sherborne, Dorset
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2006 No Title, Goldfish Fine Art, Cornwall (Solo)
Spontaneous Combustion, Newlyn Art Gallery
2005 Fragments from the Middle World, Truro Cathedral, Cornwall (Solo)
Royal Ulster Academy, Ulster Museum
The Sculpture Show, Mullan Gallery, Belfast
2004 Drawing the Line, Newlyn Art Gallery
2003 Drummer of Light, Truro Museum, Cornwall
1999 La Corrida: Dreams In Red, Falmouth Public Art Gallery, Cornwall (Solo)
1997 La Corrida: Dreams In Red, Duncan Campbell Gallery, London (Solo)
1996 Resident artists, Casa Manilva, Delfina Studio Trust, Spain
1995 Fragments from Middle World, Duncan Campbell Gallery, London (Solo)
1993 Images of Christ, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London
1992 Fragments from Middle World, Albemarle Gallery, London (Solo)

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS, COLLECTIONS, AWARDS, PRIZES & ACHIEVEMENTS
2013 What God of Love Inspires Such Hatred in the Hearts of Men, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Selected Judge for Threadneedle Prize
2012 The Green Man, Antony Estate, Torpoint, Cornwall (Carew-Pole Garden Trust)
2011 Falmouth Art Gallery Collection
UCA Farnham Collection
2009 - 11 The Drummer, Lemon Quay, Truro, Cornwall
2008 The Minotaur, The Royal Opera House, London
The Federation of British Artists Selectors’ Choice, Threadneedle Prize
2007 Silenus, David Roberts Art Foundation
Casting a Dark Democracy Maquette, David Roberts Art Foundation
2006 Kenneth Armitage Sculpture Fellowship Award, London (& Foundation Collection)
2005 The Mullan Prize, Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition
Prince of Wales Bursary Award, The British School at Athens (& Foundation Collection)
2003 First Prize, Millfield Open
2000 - 04 Rites of Dionysus, The Eden Project, Cornwall
1997 Prize Winner, Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
1996 Delfina Studio Trust Award (& Foundatin Collection)
SELECTED PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS
2011 The Shape of Things to Come: New Sculpture, Brian Sewell, Evening Standard
It’s Not all Doom and Gloom at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
The Genuine Article, Cornwall Today
Roger Taylor Unveils Controversial Cornish Statue in Truro, Western Morning News
2009 The Threadneedle Prize at the Mall Galleries, Financial Times
The New Curiosity Shop, GQ, Sophie Lewis
Casting A Dark Democracy Review, Dazed magazine online
Casting A Dark Democracy Review, Art Forum, Gilda Williams
2008 Casting A Dark Democracy Review, Financial Times, Jackie Wullschlager
Casting A Dark Democracy, Critic’s Choice, Financial Times
Casting A Dark Democracy Review, Time Out, Francis Gooding & Critics Choice
The Genuine Article, Cornwall Today, Alex Wade
Penzance Turns Regeneration into a Fine Art, The Observer, Alex Wade
No Bull – The Covent Garden Monster, The Evening Standard, Georgina Littejohn
2007 Politics Pays Back Review, The Spectator, Mark Glazebrook
Is This the New Brutalism?, The Times, Hester Westley
New Face of Cornish Art, The Times, Laura Gascoigne
Sherborne House OPEN 07, Big Issue August
Brian Sewell & The Art of Insulting your Hosts, The Independent, Ian Herbert
Sunday Times Culture Magazine, Richard Brooks
2003 Landscapes & Desire, Catherine Tuck, Sutton Publishing
Catching the Wave: Contemporary Art and Artists in Cornwall, Tom Cross, Halsgrove
Eden: Tim Smit, Bantam Press

Aknowledgments:
A special thank you to Joseph Clarke for his immense support and dedication, and to
Hollie Clarke and Sarah Goldbart at Millennium
Peter Hampel for allowing wild thoughts to run rampant amongst the vines, Tim Smit, Sue
Hill, Glennys Pritchard and the extended team at Eden for their support during and after
the creation of ‘The Rites of Dionysus’
Don Jordan for his insightful essay
Photography:
Steve Tanner ‘The Rites of Dionysus 1, 2 & 3’
Luke Champion ‘Mid-summer at Chyglidden’ (front cover image)
Technical Assistance :
John Ensor : bronze casting
David Handford for solving all matters : sound and motion
Thanos Polymeneas : sound recording
Alban Roinard for technical assistance on the video ‘Awaken from the Dream of Reality’
To the people of Padstow and Ottery St.Mary for keeping old customs alive, and in
particular to Dara Vallely and Anne for allowing ‘the mummers tongue to hoar amongst
the civilised tongue’
To my partner Olivia, for light, love and the breath of fresh air
Lastly, I dedicate this work to my mother for a lifetime’s love and support, and who once
said ‘Give flowers to the living not the dead’

Published by Millennium to coincide with the exhibition ‘Awaken from the Dream of Reality’ by Tim Shaw
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
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Publication produced by Impact Printing Services (www.impactprintingservices.co.uk)
Interview Film by Alban Roinard and Joseph Clarke
ISBN 978-1-905772-62-9
M I L L E N N I U M
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mail@millenniumgallery.co.uk
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