A number of new prints, each a Study for the Patterns of Absence, have been inspired by the gallery’s canalside location in Venice. Using algorithms to create interference patterns, which are printed in dynamic sequences that move through a chromatic scale of blues, greens and complementary colours, the artist has arrived at a series of works whose optical effects are reminiscent of the shifting reflected light of the sea.

‘I hope they show a mathematical simulation of these very beautiful phenomenon that we find so inspiring and transformative,’ Shawcross says. ‘I think being situated next to the canal, these pieces have a particular resonance. And facing the Fractures within the room, they also have an amazing counterpoint. They’re all about pattern and about nature – about the simulation of nature in very geometric, very refined ways.’

This investigation of optics to achieve disrupted dynamic sculptural surfaces though the juxtaposition of hole patterns is a relatively recent aspect of the artist’s practice. Shawcross explains, ‘In essence this can be described as the Moiré effect but we have tried over the past seven years to create a very empirical understanding of the variables and constraints that creates such varied effects. While I love the complex visuals I’m drawn also by the philosophical and perceptual implications; that combinations of absences can create pattern, complexity, even illusion.’

These aspects converged in the recent major work The Patterns of Absence, 2020, created for the artist’s 2020 exhibition, Escalations, at Château La Coste in Provence, France. The suspended work, which is four metres across, comprises two slowly counter-rotating discs, both perforated using a mathematical algorithm. The sum effect allows shifting dappled light to permeate through the voids within their surfaces.

Conrad Shawcross, RA, was born in 1977 in London, where he currently lives and works. Recent major exhibitions and commissions include Escalations, a recent solo exhibition held at  Chateau La Coste, Provence, France, where the artist’s monumental new permanent commission Schism (Château La Coste) is on view; Pioneering Places, a major public art work for Ramsgate Royal Harbour, UK; and an exhibition to mark the 800th anniversary of Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, UK. Shawcross will create a major new public artwork for the Crossrail Elizabeth line at Liverpool Street, London. Titled Manifold, the bronze sculpture will be positioned outside the Moorgate entrance of the new station when it opens in 2022.