Pierre Diamantopoulo

Pierre Diamantopoulo was born in Cairo in 1952 of a French mother and Greek father. He studied literature at the University of Essex (1970-73) and became an advertising copywriter, creating campaigns for British Airways, Cadbury's, ICI Dulux, NatWest and London Transport and winning gold, silver and bronze cinema and television awards in New York, Cannes, Venice and London. As a sculptor he is self-taught.

In 1989 he set up a studio in Brighton to work exclusively as a sculptor. His first exhibition was at the Tryon Gallery, London, in 1990, with annual shows at the same venue until 1996. He has shown regularly at Harrods, the Anstey Galleries in Harrogate and Beaux Arts, Bath. His work has also been included in a number of open exhibitions at the Royal West of England Academy and the Royal Society of British Sculptors, of which he was elected Associate Member in 2000.

Much of Diamantopoulo's work is focused on movement in sculptures that apparently defy gravity. Figures appear to float freely in improbable spatial compositions created through geometry and optical illusion. He also works in the animalier tradition, investigating how creatures move singly and in groups. Both strands of his practice are, in the main, allegorical. The animal pieces may be more sure-footed and heavy, but they are still dynamic. Figures fly, dance, run, jump, walk or cavort with a great sense of fun in sculptures that formally oppose the earthbound nature of the materials from which they are made - wax, plaster and bronze.

Diamantopoulo lives and works in East Sussex.