Shaw’s work deals with primordial human instinct, laying it bare, never flinching from confronting us – with darkness and light. The need to recollect such truths is vital the more progression shields us from some of our fundamental characteristics. The yearning for such works of art becomes more and more important by way of resistance – to remind us who we really are. Shaw earlier stated, “There is a need for me to give shape and form to the emotive forces that lie beneath the appearance of everyday reality.”

Reaction to the work in the past has been extreme – ‘Silenus’, a larger than life figure, with antlers, holding his erect penis and staring unnervingly into the eyes of the viewer made National news when it was attacked by a masked man with an iron bar whilst on exhibition in the East End of London in 2007. In mythology, the wise old fool was tutor to Dionysus. As with much of Shaw’s work the mythological or historic thematic structure merely underpins a contemporary concern. A subtext for this defiant, conceited figure was the sneering frivolous nature of power, a warning of an inherent corruptive human element. This piece was originally envisaged as part of the installation ‘The Rites of Dionysus’ on permanent display at The Eden Project linking closely to the mythology of the bacchanal, but giving shape to perennial extreme facets of human nature acted out in full on life’s stage.

From mid 2007 to late 2009, a substantial body of work was realised during Shaw’s residency in London, where he lived and worked in Kenneth Armitage’s former studios as recipient of the Kenneth Armitage Fellowship. Drawing from personal experience of his formative years growing up in troubled Belfast, Shaw made a series of works focussed on world conflict, and the emotive forces that propel and perpetuate acts of extremism. ‘Tank on Fire’ was made; taking inspiration from images of events in Basra where an ignited soldier flees a burning tank. The piece was announced winner of the inaugural Threadneedle Judges Prize. Shaw also made ‘Man on Fire’ a double life-sized figure propelled uncontrollably forward whilst engulfed by flames. Shaw stated of these works, “I tried to imagine the thoughts and feelings of someone consumed by fire, of someone who is caught between two worlds, that of life and death”. The culmination of the residency was ‘Casting a Dark Democracy’ a 17 foot sculpture of the Abu Ghraib prisoner stood in front of a mirroring pool of oil on a sand covered floor. A smoke filled low-lit room, and drumming heartbeat pulse completed the installation. The true cost of conflict, fear and greed made palpable. Jackie Wullshlager, critic for the Financial Times heralded the piece ‘The most politically charged yet poetically resonant new work on show in London’ whilst Gilda Williams of Artforum stated ‘Shockingly powerful… I’d assumed that no work could ever match the impact of the actual newspaper photos, but Casting succeeds”.

My last experience of working with Shaw was on the 2008 exhibition ‘Future History’, which took place mid-way through the residency. The exhibition was a mixture of maquettes of images of conflict alongside a series of ‘Fertility Figures’ and ‘Funerary Figures’. In his catalogue introduction Shaw confronted an initial concern over, what could be termed, disparate subject matter, stating, “At first glance the work pursues two distinctly different paths, one deals with current affairs the other has its roots in something much older... Perhaps one thing that binds it together is to do with the most primal of all concerns which is the will to exist.”

After the productive residency in London, Tim returned to Cornwall to begin this intensive period of work on The Drummer.

Featured as part of this exhibition is the early installation; La Corrida - Dreams in Red, made from 1996 to 1999 after a three month residency in Andalucía. It is a depiction of a stage that rages with energy, passion and grace. Elements of beauty, sensuality and brutality merge. All participants vigorously alive, yet at all times intensely aware of their mortality. Amongst the ensemble sits a flamenco dancer elegantly balanced on large spheres. It was the first use of this universal symbol within Shaw’s work. Shaw once told me of a profound moment which occurred after the death of his Father - when he asked his Mother if his Father had passed peacefully she said ‘he slowly drew back less and less breath until finally if was as if a great ball of silence had filled the room’. This powerful, poetic notion becomes difficult to elude and adds another layer to the significance of the ‘orb’ symbol.

The origins of The Drummer could be seen as the seeds that drive all of Tim Shaw’s work, the pounding pulse of existence, the defiant yet graceful balance on a precarious ball of uncertainty representing forces greater than ourselves. The Drummer will stand as a centre piece to Cornwall but will also stand as a permanent monument to the ephemeral state of balance between life’s resolute, magnificent endeavour and the unknown which awaits us all.

Joseph Clarke. 2011