William Tucker
William Tucker was born in Cairo, studied history at Oxford University and sculpture at Central and St Martins School of Art in London. He was awarded the Sainsbury Scholarship in 1961 and the Peter Stuyvesant Travel Bursary in 1965. He represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1972. Following the publication of ‘The Language of Sculpture’ in 1974 he was invited to curate ‘The Condition of Sculpture’ exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London. Tucker moved to New York in 1978 and continues to live and work in USA. In 2010 he was awarded the International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award
During his early career, he worked primarily with steel, fibreglass and recycled wood to create abstract geometric figures consisting largely of negative space. Over the years his work has become more organic and expressive, and though it has evolved through a surprising range of media it has always challenged the viewer’s expectations. His titles often make reference to classical myth and literature and many of his sculptures are reminiscent of body fragments from an unknown race of giants, inhabitants of a mysterious world.
“I see the role of contemporary sculpture as preserving and protecting the source of mystery, of the unknown.”
Tucker exhibits widely and his work is held in many major public collections both in UK and USA.
