Barry Flanagan
Date of birth : 1941
Country : Grande-Bretagne
In the 1960s, Barry Flanagan studied at a number of Fine Arts schools including the prestigious St Martin's School of Art in London.
The artist soon reacted against the heritage left by the British post-war sculptors like Moore and Caro, and became interested in pataphysics, or the science of imaginary solutions, developed by Alfred Jarry. He then produced works similar to Arte Povera, using fragile and valueless materials.
Then, in the 1970s, Barry Flanagan began stone sculpture and bronze moulds. But the return to traditional sculpture materials was in fact a subversion and parody of the heroic status of classical art. The various animals he produces (hares, elephants, horses) in abnormal and unimaginable positions point to the artist's questioning of traditional views on sculpture. They show the dynamic, fantasy-like and absurd characteristics of Flanagan's work. He admits to being flattered and even fulfilled when people laugh at his work.
Bi-yearly Venice festival, SMAK in Ghent, The State Museum of Amsterdam, Museum of Fine Arts in Taipei, The Tate, etc.