Name Sean Henry | Role Artist | |
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Sean henry the artist discusses his recent work
Sean Henry (born 1965, Woking, Surrey ) is a British sculptor, based in Hampshire. His work occupies private and public locations in many locations across Europe and the USA. Fusing the disciplines of ceramics with those of sculpture to create a fresh, innovative approach to representing the human figure, Henry's painted figures have helped to revive the long tradition of polychrome sculpture.
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Early life
The youngest of four brothers, Henry grew up in Surrey, England. He studied at Farnham School of Art (now University for the Creative Arts) in 1983 before taking a BA in ceramics at Bristol Polytechnic from 1984 to 1987. He was a visiting artist at the University of California from 1991 to 1992, and won the Villiers David Prize in 1998, becoming the first sculptor to win the award.
Work
Henry describes the theme of his work as “the tension between the making and staging of figures that seem to belong to the real world, and the degree to which they echo our experiences and sympathies”. Art historian Tom Flynn has said "Through vigorously expressive modelling Henry imbues his figures with a powerful psychological presence, the theme of life and death a constant subtext".
Henry’s sculptures are modelled in clay before being painted by the artist using oil and other paints, on either a cast bronze or ceramic surface. Mark Lawson has described Henry's offshore sculpture Couple as "confirming the current power of public art".
His first solo show was in London in 1988 and he has since gone on to exhibit his work widely in both solo and group exhibitions throughout the UK, USA, Sweden, Germany, Holland, Italy, Australia, Greece and Switzerland.
In 2008, Scala Publishers published the first comprehensive monograph on Henry’s work, written by the art historian Tom Flynn. This was followed in 2011 by the Scala publication of Conflux: A Union of the Sacred and the Anonymous to mark Henry’s biggest exhibition to date at Salisbury Cathedral which attracted over 100,000 visitors during its 4-month run in 2011, a record for the Cathedral.
Notable works
