Grenville Davey

Ce & Ce

1989

Not on display

Artist: Grenville Davey born 1961
Medium: Steel
Dimensions: Displayed: 1670 x 2045 x 310 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by Janet Wolfson de Botton 1996
Reference: T07181

Display caption

Davey’s sculpture in the late 1980s was preoccupied with circularity and pairing. Although abstract, the informal positioning and steel lips of the circles suggest the lids of vats, or giant paint pots, momentarily set to one side. By subtly altering the geometry of the circle Davey subverts notions of ideal beauty and uniformity. The streaked surface of the two parts of Ce & Ce, with its traces of poured acid, underscores this subversion of purity. The title suggests a visual pun about looking at a work in which one element partially eclipses the other behind it.

Gallery label, February 2011