Shaun Gladwell (Sydney, 1972) critically and poetically links personal experience with contemporary culture and historical references through performance, video, painting and sculpture. His recent video works engage these concerns through forms of urban expression such as skateboarding, hip-hop, graffiti, BMX bike riding and break-dancing.
Gladwell completed Associate Research at Goldsmiths College, University of London, in 2001 and has since undertaken international residencies and commissions in Europe, North and South America, and the Asia Pacific Region. In September 2006 he was the recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts’ prestigious Visual Arts Fellowship.
Gladwell’s work has been exhibited in major national and international exhibitions, including The Mind is a Horse, Bloomberg Space, London (2001), the Yokohama 2005 Triennale of Contemporary Art: Art Circus (Jumping from the Ordinary), Japan; First We Take Museums, KIASMA, Finland (2005); and Space Invaders, Museum Kunsthaus Baselland, Switzerland (2005).
Recently Gladwell has exhibited in the 52nd International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale: Think with the senses, feel with the mind – art in the present tense, 2006 (27th) Bienal de Sao Paulo, How to Live Together, Brazil; the Busan Biennale 2006: Everywhere, South Korea; in Wave Front: Australian Contemporary Art Scene, Tokyo Wonder Site, Japan (2006-07); Collezione #2, Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporaneo Roma, Italy (2007); and LIVING THE CITY, Virtual Museum Zuidas / Platform21, Amsterdam. His work will be included in the upcoming Taipei Biennial (2008/2009) curated by Manray Hsu and Vasif Kortun. Shaun Gladwell lives and works in Sydney, Australia.
“By establishing an analogy between BMX acrobatics, sign and drawing, Gladwell connects in a light and laconic way traditions and cultures which seemed impossible to bring together.” (Daniel Baumann, from ‘Shaun Gladwell. Public space, translation and beauty’, Art&Australia, Vol. 44, No. 4: Winter 2007)
“The artist uses [a] contemporary leisure activity as part of an examination of the nature and impact of art iconography and its aesthetic resonances. While the thematic is firmly grounded in the romantic sublime, the work is also part self-portrait, performance and video art.” (Mark Pennings, from ‘Out of Place, Out of Time, Out of Mind’, Eyeline, No. 58: Spring 2005)