Barry Flanagan

Welsh sculptor Barry Flanagan's diverse practice ranged from land art to the whimsical bronze sculptures of hares and other animals that he produced later in life and for which he is best known. Flanagan placed these animal sculptures in humorous positions, such as the pose used in Rodin's Thinker, and gave them playful titles like A Nose in Repose. Flanagan's early work, by contrast, is closely associated with Minimalism, Land Art, and Concrete Poetry, and his experimentation with materials such as sand, cloth, and rope brings to mind the work of such artists as Carl Andre and Robert Smithson. Although Flanagan's work is varied, his practice is characterized throughout by his remarkable use of materials to create sculptural form and narrative.

Flanagan’s work was presented in the groundbreaking exhibition When Attitudes Become Form at the Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, 1969 and the Venice Biennale, 1982. His work has been included in group and solo shows internationally, including Tate, Liverpool, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Camden Arts Centre, London, Whitechapel Gallery, London, Hayward Gallery, London, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and MoMA, New York. Flanagan's bronze hares have been installed in many public spaces, most notably on Park Avenue, New York, 1995-6 and at Grant Park, Chicago, 1996.