Edward Allington

Biography

Sculptor and draughtsman Edward Allington (1951-2017) was born in Cumbria. He studied at Lancaster College of Art (1968-1971), Central School of Art and Design (1971-1974) and finally at the Royal College of Art (1983-1984).

Allington came to prominence in the early 1980s in the context of New British Sculpture. His long-standing fascination with our history often brings classical references into his work and he develops a strong sense of otherworldliness through his allusion to our complex past. His work is characterised by a witty and ironic use of familiar forms and striking visual metaphors, while his consistent deconstruction and de-stabilising of source material provokes a direct interaction with his work.

Allington’s work was included in the group exhibition ‘Objects and Sculpture’ at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1981 and ‘The Sculpture Show’ at The Hayward Gallery in 1983, he has exhibited widely in America, Japan and throughout Europe. Allington was the winner of the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Prize in 1989 and received a fine art award to work at the British School at Rome in 1997. He is represented in major public, private and corporate collections, including the Arts Council, Tate Gallery, Henry Moore Institute, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and The British Museum.

Allington lived and worked in London and was Professor of Sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art until he died on 21st September 2017.

Exhibitions

2020 Edward Allington and Pablo Bronstein, Room 2 in Spotlights, Tate Britain, London
2020 From the Sex of Metals II, on display at New Art Centre, Roche Court
2019 From the Sex of Metals IV, on display at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
2019 Things Unsaid, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
2019 Pushing Paper: Contemporary Drawing from 1970 to Now, British Museum *
2019 In Pursuit of Sculpture, UCL Art Museum
2018 Land, City & Sea: British Masters from the David Ross Collection, Lincoln *
2016 Edward Allington: The Hidden Sculptures, Megan Piper, London
2015 Making It: Sculpture in Britain 1977-1986, (a touring exhibition from the Arts Council Collection), Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park *
2015 Classicicity, Breese Little, London *
2014 A Thousand Doors, (curated by Iwona Blazwick), NEON, Athens *
2014 Ruin Lust, Tate Britain, London *
2012 We Are Time: Past and Future Works, Canary Wharf, London
2012 Then and Now, The Piper Gallery, London *
2012 Trees, Small Fires, and Japanese Joints, Daiwa Anglo Japanese Foundation, London
2009 Recent Acquisitions, Victoria and Albert Museum, London *
2008 British Sculptors’ Drawings, The British Museum, London *
2003 Tilted Vase and Other Projects, Bury Art Gallery and Museum
2002 Blast to Freeze, British Art in the 20th Century, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany (touring to Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France in 2003) *
1998 A Changed World: Contemporary British Sculpture 1963 - 1996, Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa (a British Council touring exhibition) *
1997 Pictured Bronzes, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
1994 Sculptors’ Drawings Presented by the Weltkunst Foundation, Tate Gallery, London *
1993 Sculptures and Photo Works, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
1993 Cell-Cella-Celda, The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds *
1991 Japan Objects for the Ideal Home: The Legacy of Pop Art, Serpentine Gallery, London *
1991 Pictured Bronzes and Drawings, Kohji Ogura Gallery, Nagoya
1989 British Sculpture 1960-1988, Museum Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen *
1988 Sculpture/ Drawings, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo
1987 , Diane Brown Gallery, New York
1984 Edward Allington: New British Sculpture, Gallery Schmela, Dusseldorf
1983 Sculpture, Lisson Gallery, London
1983 Drawing towards Sculpture, Institute of Contemporary Art, London
1983 The Sculpture Show, Hayward Gallery, London *
1982 British Drawing. Hayward Annual 82, Hayward Gallery, London *
1981 Objects and Sculpture, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, travelling to the Institute of Contemporary Art, London *