ARTIST OVERVIEW

Brian Wall (1931–) is a sculptor who was one of the first artists to construct abstract sculpture from welded steel.¹ A key member of the St. Ives artists' colony, a group of British artists that surrounded sculptor Barbara Hepworth and painters Ben Nicholson and Patrick Heron in the 1950s, Wall has remained faithful to constructivist principles of formality and simplicity throughout his career.

Despite the austerity and "toughness" of Wall's steel beams, circles, squares, and tubes, Wall's work-both the small- and large-scale pieces-conveys a delicacy and formalism that belies the strength of his material. The surfaces are waxed to reveal the tactile nature of the metal or painted a monochromatic color, usually black. In either instance, the result is a concentrated emphasis on form. The sculptures are lyrical in nature and possess a Zen-like simplicity, one that is informed by Wall's interest in Zen philosophy and Japanese calligraphy.

Art historian Peter Selz has written that Wall's sculptures "have integrity, clarity, and strength. One perceives their entirety immediately, before becoming involves in the intricacies of their internal relationships."² His pieces are resolutely objective; Wall has defied trend by remaining faithful to high modernist principles of clarity and economy of form. Wall believes in a sculpture that is 'nothing more or nothing less than itself. A sculpture which cannot be read and does not say anything other than what it is.'³

Brian Wall was born in London. After studying at the Luton Art School, he moved to St. Ives, Cornwall, in 1954, where he was the studio assistant to sculptor Barbara Hepworth. His first solo exhibition took place in 1957 at the School of Architecture, London. In 1960, he moved from St. Ives to London and, in 1962, was appointed Head of Sculpture at the Central School of Art and Design (now Central St. Martins). In 1972, he moved to the United States and joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley (1969–1992).

In 1983, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art honored Wall with a career retrospective (the exhibition originated at the Seattle Art Museum). His work is held in many public collections including the Tate Gallery, London; Museum of Art, Dublin; Oakland Museum of California; University Art Museum, Berkeley; Seattle Art Museum; and the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden. Currently, the artist maintains a studio in Emeryville, California, and residences in San Francisco and the Languedoc region of France.

^1. David Smith and Anthony Caro also experimented with the medium, although Wall predates Caro by several years. Chris Stephens in Brian Wall (London: Momentum May 2006), p. 13–14.

^2. Peter Selz as quoted in Art in America, May–June 1976.

^3. Brian Wall as quoted in Brian Wall, p. 17.