Bruce McLean

Bruce McLean is one of the major figures of contemporary British Art. Born in 1944 he studied at Glasgow School of Art (1961-63) and at St. Martin's in London (1963-66), where he was taught by Anthony Caro. He found the attitude there ponderous: "Twelve adult men with pipes would walk for hours around sculpture and mumble." In reaction he took an unconventional approach: making sculpture out of rubbish or other impermanent materials, turning to performance art and producing photographic works in which he often posed. Bruce McLean lead the development of Conceptual art in Britain in the 1960s, often working outside in the urban and suburban landscape. All his work brilliantly sent up the pompousness of the art world and mocked established art forms. He was given a one day retrospective at the Tate Gallery at the age of 27 (King for a Day, 1972).

McLean's practice is in a permanent state of movement and invention; from the late 1960s his range of media has included painting, printmaking, sculpture, film, photography, drawing and live work. His work seeks to challenge the concept of 'sculpture' and indeed of 'art' by creating work that questions establishment thinking, materials and methods of display.

After St. Martin's McLean went on to teach at numerous art schools including The Slade School of Fine Art, where he became Head of Graduate Painting (2002-2010). He has obtained international recognition for his paintings and prints, work with film theatre and books. McLean's bold and confident approach to printmaking proved influential to his contemporaries and also to a generation of younger artists. His work is in private and public collections world-wide including the Saatchi Collection, Tate Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art, Edinburgh. He has had numerous one man shows in both Europe and North America.