Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Bill Woodrow

Born: 1948. Nationality: British.

Bill Woodrow was born in Oxfordshire and studied at Winchester College of Art (1967-68), St Martin's School of Art (1958-71) and Chelsea School of Art (1971-72). He quickly established his reputation as a sculptor, having his first solo show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1972. Since then he has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad. He was part of a generation of artists, including Tony Cragg and Cornelia Parker, whose work combines everyday objects in ways that suggest meanings apart from their original function.

Woodrow's early work utilised discarded materials and objects from scrap yards. Later he began to take large consumer goods such as washing machines and cars and cut shapes from their sheet metal skins which, though having their own separate identities, left the shape of the original object intact. The Tate Gallery has his work Twin Tub with Guitar of 1981. His works are thought-provoking and often witty and show a mastery in the handling of the materials and the fabrication process.

Bill Woodrow was a Trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1996 to 2001.

 

Locket and Gold Bow
L'Usine L'Usine