Shezad Dawood’s Cascade is a permanent public artwork for The Gaumont on London’s King’s Road. The work pays homage to the cinematic legacy of the former Gaumont Palace Theatre and the site’s layered histories, taking the form of two vertical panels, each measuring 609 x 288 cm and composed of 144 hand-glazed ceramic tiles. Inspired by James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold, the diptych depicts a full moon crossing the night sky with abstract firework bursts sculpted in relief.
Cascade draws upon references such as Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon, Gothic novelists Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, and local cultural figures like fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. The ceramic moons and fireworks animate the piece kinetically through natural sunlight during the day, acting like a sundial, and by night the work is illuminated to dramatic effect. Dawood merges reality and fiction, storytelling and site-specific memory, offering a new visual landmark that reflects his ongoing interest in cinema, time, and narrative.
Cascade draws upon references such as Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon, Gothic novelists Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, and local cultural figures like fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. The ceramic moons and fireworks animate the piece kinetically through natural sunlight during the day, acting like a sundial, and by night the work is illuminated to dramatic effect. Dawood merges reality and fiction, storytelling and site-specific memory, offering a new visual landmark that reflects his ongoing interest in cinema, time, and narrative.
July 13, 2025
