Barry Flanagan

Barry Flanagan stood as one of Britain's foremost sculptors, renowned for his bronze statues characterized by biomorphic forms that evoke animals, human figures, and mythological creatures. His creations embody a playful and subversive spirit, maintaining an intuitive and accessible quality.

Biography of Barry Flanagan

Barry Flanagan, born in Prestatyn, North Wales, studied architecture at Birmingham College of Art and Crafts. After attending various colleges, he was accepted into the Vocational Diploma in Sculpture at St. Martin's School of Art in London in 1964. Flanagan graduated in 1966 and subsequently taught at St. Martin's School of Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1967 to 1971. In 1991, he was elected to the Royal Academy and received an OBE.

Flanagan's work has consistently been perceived as radical and independent. He transformed sculptural material in 1965, while still a student, with the exhibition of the soft sculpture "aaing j gni aa, 1965" at Better Books on Charing Cross Road in London (acquired by the Tate Gallery in 1969). Works like this and "4 casb 2 ’67, 1967" altered perceptions of the language of sculpture permanently. 

Flanagan participated in the exhibition "Between Poetry and Painting" at the ICA in 1965, contributing a finger poem as one of many examples of concrete poetry in the display. His initial solo exhibition took place at the Rowan Gallery in London in 1966. Subsequently, he showcased his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in both Britain and abroad. Notable exhibitions include "When Attitudes Become Form" in Bern and "Op Losse Schroeven" in Amsterdam, both in 1969, as well as "Information New York" in 1970. His first solo exhibition at Waddington Galleries in London occurred in 1980.

Engaging in happenings and dematerialized practices, Flanagan collaborated with Yoko Ono in 1966 and, later in 1980, with the Marjorie 'Strider' dance company. Like his contemporaries from St. Martin's School of Art, including Richard Long, Gilbert & George, and Bruce McLean, Flanagan also experimented with film. He was included in the exhibition "Land Art" in Gerry Schum's Video Gallery, featuring the film "A Hole in the Sea" in 1969.

In 2002, a significant exhibition of Flanagan's work was displayed at the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Germany, and later toured to the Musee d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Nice. In 2006, the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin hosted a major retrospective of his work in collaboration with the Dublin City Art Gallery, The Hugh Lane. This retrospective featured ten large-scale bronzes installed along O'Connell Street and in Parnell Square. In 2011, Tate presented a comprehensive retrospective at Tate Britain, "Barry Flanagan Early Works 1965-1982." The exhibition provided an overview of the early part of Flanagan’s career. 

Two years later, Waddington Custot showcased a survey of early works in "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral." The exhibition featured a selection of Flanagan’s key early explorations in material and form that played a pivotal role in shaping his later career, with some works not exhibited for over 30 years. In 2019, a major survey of over sixty works by Flanagan opened at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, occupying the gallery's two floors entirely. Additionally, monumental sculptures by Flanagan were included in Amsterdam’s Sculpture Biennial Artzuid, Sculpture Milwaukee, and Frieze Sculpture, Regents Park, London that year.

Flanagan’s artistic legacy is preserved in public collections globally, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and Tate in London.

Barry Falanagan's Art Style

Barry Flanagan is widely recognized for his dynamic and often monumental bronze hares, introduced in the early eighties. Combining the everyday, the imaginary, and the fantastical, he shapes clay into animal forms such as hares, elephants, dogs, and horses—the latter being an archetype of classical sculpture. When questioned about the hare motif, Flanagan would recount the magical experience of observing a hare running on the Sussex Downs. This encounter inspired the creation of the first Leaping Hare sculpture in 1979. 

His return to bronze with the hare, having previously cast work in the foundry at Central School of Art with Henry Abercrombie in 1969, was a part of his exploration into various media. This exploration ranged from the sand, rope, and cloth pieces that focused on composition and challenged established ideas of sculpture, to the ceramics, stone, marble, and sheet metal sculptures of the seventies. Many of Flanagan's works feature humorous titles, such as "A Nose in Repose, 1977." 

The artist's interest in Pataphysics, Alfred Jarry’s 'science of imaginary solutions,' is evident in the playfulness of his approach. This approach allows materials to discover their own sculptural form, whether it be sand, rope, stone, sheet metal, cloth, clay, or bronze.