Cerith Wyn Evans was born in 1958 in Llanelli, Wales and now lives and works in London.
Cerith Wyn Evans first came to attention in the 1980s as an experimental filmmaker and collaborator across artistic disciplines, including dance and performance. Subsequently he has expanded his approach to incorporate sculpture. His works combine ideas and influences from art, history, philosophy and science in order to transform our perception of the world around us. He is perhaps best known for his elegant neon text works that mine a particular fascination with language and light. In 2017 his dazzling white neon sculpture, Forms in Space…by Light (in Time), filled the Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries.
Wyn Evans challenges the assumption that the most important characteristic of a sculpture should be its condition as a physical, space-occupying object. He also employs the more ephemeral substances of air and time as his primary materials.
Wyn Evans was awarded The Hepworth Prize for Sculpture in 2018 for his important contribution to contemporary sculpture. In 2020, together with White Cube, the artist generously donated a suspended neon work, Come (II) to The Hepworth Wakefield.
Recent solo exhibitions include the Museo Tamayo (2018), Tate Britain Commission (2017), Museion Bolzano (2015) and Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London (2014). He has also participated in the Venice Biennale (2017, 2010, 2003), Skulptur Projekte Münster (2017), Moscow Biennial (2011), Aichi Triennale (2010), Yokohama Triennale (2008) and Istanbul Biennial (2005). He studied at Central St Martin’s School of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art in London.
‘I’m delighted at the opportunity to engage with the architecture of The Hepworth. It’s refreshing in its acknowledgement that the vicissitudes of light and time are intrinsic to the appreciation of sculpture and plastic form that for all too long has merely been considered 3-Dimensional.’
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Cerith Wyn Evans, ...Instead (modified threshold)
£1,000. Artist Edition of 20 (plus gallery proofs)
“I’m delighted at the opportunity to engage with the architecture of The Hepworth. It’s refreshing in its acknowledgement that the vicissitudes of light and time are intrinsic to the appreciation of sculpture and plastic form that for all too long has merely been considered 3-Dimensional.”
This artwork, created exclusively for The Hepworth Wakefield is based on the speeds of sound and light and measures, specifically exactly one metre in width. The edition is typical of Wyn Evans’ practice which often links light, sound and the written word to create works distinguished by a minimalist aesthetic.
Using clear vinyl is an attempt to rupture existing systems of communication. Cerith Wyn Evans often uses this practice in his work subverting certain given material forms, disrupting spatial-temporal coordinates, or adopting a communal rather than singular authorial voice.
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The Hepworth Prize for Sculpture
26 Oct 2018 - 20 Jan 2019
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Shortlist announced for second The Hepworth Prize for Sculpture
On Thursday 22 March, The Hepworth Wakefield announced the five artists nominated for the second The Hepworth Prize for Sculpture.
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