Richard Deacon

Richard Deacon was born in Bangor, Wales, in 1949. He studied at Somerset College of Art, Taunton (1968), St Martin's School of Art, London (1970-73) and the Royal College of Art (1974-77) where he gained an MA in Environmental Media.

Working both on a domestic and monumental scale, Richard Deacon combines the essence of human form with elements of engineering in his precisely made structures of wood, metal and occasionally, plastics. Metals are riveted together in sweeping shapes which refer to both inner and outer parts of the anatomy, and wood is laminated, bent and twisted into unlikely ribbons and smoothed to solid perfection in more volumetric states.

Public commissions in many countries have given Richard Deacon opportunities to work on an immense scale. Moor 1990 at Victoria Park in Plymouth sits high next to a bridge, and is 247 metres long. He also makes works for a particular occasion, for example objects which are used in contemporary dance performances. In 1993 he collaborated with Hervü Robbe in Factory, designing the sets and, with Dominique Fabrïgue, the costumes. The dance was performed at La Ferme du Buisson, Paris, before touring France. Deacon's use of performance in his work has undergone change throughout his career. He actively participated in his earlier works but eventually found his physical presence became unnecessary. His work evolves with his thinking, in that he does not establish a set of rules or problems to be solved through a predetermined pattern - the ideas rove with the making process.

Richard Deacon has exhibited widely throughout the world with solo exhibitions, and in significant international surveys such as Documenta IX in 1992. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1987. He lives and works in London.