art
TIM SHAW: BLACK SMOKE RISING
Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Sat 4 Oct-Tue 18 Nov
Suspended above a black pool is a figure. Hooded, barefoot and vulnerable, the sculpture stands as a haunting
centrepiece for a new exhibition that will make up part of the Reflections Of War season at Aberystwyth Arts
Centre.
Drawing on the raw brutality of conflict, Shaw uses real stories as inspiration for his work. His sculpture
Casting A Dark Democracy questions the political realities of war, using the infamous images from Abu
Ghraib that displayed the torture of prisoners during the war in Iraq.
Brought up in Belfast throughout the 60s and 70s, Shaw is no stranger to the reality of violence and unspeakable
aggression caused by conflict. He uses his own experiences and his anger to create sculptures that generate
both empathy for the victims, but also repulsion at how primitive these acts of violence are.
Created largely with barbed wire, constr X