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InspirationArt & Culture

Bad Bricks are Tetris-style cartoon-inspired sculptures by Richard Woods

Richard Woods has built an international reputation for his signature architectural transformations, painting and sculpture that fold the history of the decorative arts, functional design and graphic language into intoxicatingly witty plays with image and surface. His architectural interventions are chiefly concerned with the re-surfacing of existing structures, proposing an absurd twist on the cult of home improvement and DIY aesthetics.

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Tall blue wooden sculpture resembling stacked Tetris bricks with white mortar lines and thick black edges mounted on a white wall

For Cardiff's Chapter gallery, Woods has created Inclosure Acts – a new exhibition that is inspired by both the history of the building – sited as it is on a former cattle market – and by the Acts (1604-1914) that radically transformed open fields and common land in the countryside. Wall-based works reference the suburban in a series of monoprints. Based on hard-edged renditions of Mock Tudor decoration, the paintings are suburbia meets Neo Geo – the past made future.

In the café, Woods’ works Bad Bricks are beautifully simple sculptures made from wood and resembling cartoon bricks. Their vibrant colours, bright white mortar and thick black edges offer a joyous celebration of these most mundane of building materials.

Via direct submission

Richard Woods' Bad Bricks sculpture in bright yellow with black edges and white mortar, resembling a Tetris-style brick mounted on a gallery wall
Bright red wooden sculpture resembling a Tetris piece mounted on a white wall, featuring black edges and white mortar lines between rectangular sections
Stacked wooden sculpture with bright lime-green rectangular blocks outlined in black, casting a angular shadow on a white wall
Five light blue wooden sculptures with black outlines arranged in a row on a white wall, resembling Tetris-style blocks
Pink and mauve wooden Tetris-style brick sculptures stacked vertically with black outlines against a white wall, casting shadows
Tall vertical stack of bright yellow wooden blocks with black outlines and white mortar lines, resembling Tetris-style cartoon bricks
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