Michael Dean United Kingdom, b. 1977

Michael Dean(b. 1977, Newcastle-upon-Tyne), is a British contemporary artist working internationally. At the crux of his artistic work lies language, which Dean utilises as a medium that channels his thoughts and emotions, experimenting with its multisensory facets. The artist starts with the written forms of various genres — play scripts, poetry, typography — which are rendered into performative aspects of recitation, theatre, sounds, body prints and sculptures, that collectively form his body of works. The primary medium of his work is sculpture, consisting of cement, sand, and water: materials that one encounters quotidianly on a daily basis, to which he adds pigment to create forms that resemble ancient scripts or abstracted figures.

Michael Dean, born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, has studied at the Goldsmiths University of London and has since gained international stature as one of the four finalists of the 2016 Turner Prize. He participated in the 2017 Skulpter Projekte Münster, a world-renowned art event, and was nominated for the 2018 Hepworth Prize. Dean’s major solo and group exhibitions were held at  White Chapel Gallery, Henry Moore Institute, South London Gallery, Serpentine Gallery, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Hayward Gallery in England, Portikus in Germany, Nasher Sculpture Center in the United States, and Palais de Tokyo in France. Dean's works are in several prominent institutional collections, including David Roberts Art Foundation, Tate, Henry Moore Foundation, and Walker Art Center.