Conrad was born in 1977 in London, where he currently resides and works. He received his B.A. in Fine Art in 1999 from the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, and his Master of Fine Arts in 2001 from the Slade School of Art, University College, London. Shawcross has had solo presentations at 590 Madison Avenue, Pace Gallery, New York, (2010), Cabinet, Brooklyn (2009); Location One, New York, New York, (2009) Jenaer Kunstverein, Germany (2008), The New Art Gallery, Walsall and The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2005). His work has also been exhibited internationally at institutions including Musée d'art Contemporain, Lyon (2008), La Chapelle de L'Ecole National Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (2008), The Saatchi Gallery (2004) and Manifesta 5, San Sebastian, Spain (2004). Shawcross's first public realm commission; Space Trumpet installed in the atrium of the refurbished Unilever Building, London in 2007 won the Art & Work 2008 Award for a Work of Art Commissioned for a Specific Site in a Working Environment, and in 2009 he was awarded the Illy prize for best solo presentation at Art Brussels. Shawcross was the Artist in Residence at the Science Museum, London from 2009-2011.