The British sculptor and graphic artist Barry Flanagan is regarded an important representative of Process Art, Post-minimalism and New Figuration of the 1980s.
Barry Flanagan was born in Prestatyn in North Wales in January 1941. In 1957 Barry Flanagan enrolled at the Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts for the subjects architecture and sculpting. He studied there for a year and changed to St. Martin's School of Art in London in 1961, after he had worked on the stage set for the movie "Cleopatra" in 1960. In London Barry Flanagan also studied between 1964 and 1966.
From 1967 to 1971 Barry Flanagan taught at the London Central School of Art and Design and at St. Martin's School of Art. In the 1960s Barry Flanagan also showed an interest in the "Pataphysics" of Alfred Jarry, and he released poems in the magazine "Silâns", of which Barry Flanagan was one of the publishers (1965).
Up until the end of the 1970s sculptures by Barry Flanagan were characterized by Post-minimalism and Process Art. In 1964 he made abstract metal sculptures that show the influence of Anthony Caro. Later Barry Flanagan also worked with stones, filled forms and alterable materials. At the end of the 1960s Barry Flanagan chose material alterations as central theme of his art, also in films. In the 1970s Barry Flanagan was also active in furniture design and started the company "Rowford Process", which was supposed to put his plans into practice, in 1975.
In 1975 and 1976 Barry Flanagan lived in Aston-le-Walls, before he returned to London, where he became member of the Royal Academy in 1981. Around this time the style of Barry Flanagan began to change: With his famous bronze rabbit sculptures Barry Flanagan made a characteristic contribution to New Figuration in those days.
Works by Barry Flanagan are shown in international museums, among them the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum and the Londoner Tate Modern. As of 1987 Barry Flanagan was mainly active on the island of Ibiza, where he died in 2009.