Bill Woodrow
British b. 1948
“Making art is a way of keeping a diary of my lifelong relationship with planet earth”
Over the course of his five decade-long career, Bill Woodrow has established himself as one of the most important British sculptors of his generation. Coming to international prominence in the early 1980’s as part of the New British Sculptors movement, Woodrow initially became known for his early ‘cut-out’ sculptures. Later use of bronze, steel and many other materials indicate a need for constant change and re-evaluation in his work. Revitalising the use of narrative in sculpture his work is both thought‐provoking and poetic. His pieces bring together disparate objects and references, continually subverting expectation. Individual dialogue and interpretation is a key part of Woodrow’s work, analysing the relationship between nature and human endeavour. The tensions between found and made objects, the overt humility of the materials and the references to natural systems encapsulate the conceptual framework of this artist, whose significance for modern sculpture cannot
be exaggerated.