In 1964, Barry Flanagan was 23 years old. He had already received a classical art education inBirmingham, had all sorts of odd jobs (antique dealer, cook, model, film set designer, etc.) and hung outwith poets. He moved to London, had Phillip King and Anthony Caro as teachers at St Martin's School, and started a small avant-garde magazine Silâns. That's when Barry met Jarry. Picking up an issue of the_Evergreen Review_ devoted to 'Pataphysics that a poet friend had given him in 1962, Flanagan wasdelighted by the extracts from the Exploits and Opinions of Dr Faustroll, Pataphysician by Alfred Jarrythat he discovered there. This 'revelation' of the 'science of imaginary solutions' and the discovery ofthe saga of Jarry's Père Ubu would inform much of what he would create over the next 45 years.
Like Alfred Jarry (1873–1907), independence and radical creative freedom are the thread that runsthrough his work, from Hole in the Sea in 1969 to Monument to Letters in 2005_._ Unpredictable andunclassifiable, subtle and deadpan, practising the art of the wink, such is the artist who will be(re)discovered through this selection of sculptures, textile works, drawings and prints brought togetherin collaboration with the Barry Flanagan Estate.
Barry Flanagan was born in Prestatyn (Wales) in 1941 and died in Ibiza in 2009. He is one of the greatsculptors of the last third of the twentieth century, famous throughout the world for his haresrepresented as thinkers, dancers, acrobats, etc., present in many public spaces on every continent. Hiswork can be found in major museums around the world.
Press release courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co. Paris.
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