JON BUCK
Education and Qualifications
2012 Elected Fellow of Royal Society of Sculptors
1994 Elected Associate of Royal Society of. Sculptors
1990 Elected Member of Royal West of England Academy
1980 – 1981 Fellow in Sculpture, Gloucester College Art and Technology, Cheltenham
1979 – 1980 MA Fine Art, Manchester Polytechnic
1976 – 1979 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham
Biography
Jon Buck was born and grew up just south of Bristol at the mouth of the river Avon. His was the first generation to break with the family tradition of becoming Bristol Channel Pilots. From an early age he was determined to go his own way and it was his deep fascination with the natural world that led to his first employment at Bristol Zoo. Studying the animals and birds at close quarters gave Buck the opportunity to indulge in his passion for drawing. Gradually he became disillusioned with the unethical nature of the work and after initially enrolling on a science degree he transferred to a Fine Art Foundation course at Cardiff in 1975.
After finishing his first degree at Nottingham Jon Buck took his Masters at Manchester and was then awarded a year’s Fellowship at Cheltenham School of Art. At this point he began showing with the Nicholas Treadwell gallery based in London. In the early years of the eighties he became a part of a disparate group of artists for whose work Treadwell coined the term ‘Superhumanism’.
In 1984 Buck was awarded a grant by Southern Arts to become Artist in Residence for the Borough of Thamesdown in a regeneration area of Swindon. This placement gave him the opportunity to make his first large-scale work and to take on the challenge of making art for a public place.
Up until this point all his sculptures had been cast in resin and glass fibre. The Swindon experience was to show how inadequate these materials were for art in an external environment. This led to Buck adopting bronze as his preferred media and into developing a close collaboration with his casting foundry, Pangolin Editions. This relationship has been central to Buck’s attempt to use traditional processes to make contemporary images.
Jon Buck has continued to work in both the public and private realms and for over twenty years was Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Southampton Solent University as well as a visiting lecturer at various Art Colleges and institutions. His influences have been many but central to his work has always been his interest in Man’s connection to the natural world. In art he has always believed in some sort of visual ‘lingua franca’ and has been fascinated with art outside the Western tradition, particularly African sculpture. In addition, the art of prehistory, outsider art and the drawings of children have all affected his way of thinking about making art.
He has worked on a number of occasions as artist consultant with Camlin Lonsdale Landscape Architects, in conjunction with planners and other artists, most notably on the successful Caerphilly Town Centre Enhancement Scheme in 1995. In 1998 he was the artist chosen to be part of a team for the enhancement and refurbishment of Deal Pier. This involved a major public consultation scheme and collaboration with planners and landscape architects from Kent County Council. The resulting work won the 1999 Rouse Kent Award for Public Art.
In 2004 Buck was invited to deliver a sculpture workshop at Makerere University, Kampala on behalf of the Ruwenzori Sculpture Foundation. In November 2007 and February 2009 he returned to Uganda to undertake further design research into tribal and clan totems for the Foundation and to oversee the translation of his designs into a series of bronze casts. The Foundation is a charitable trust that promotes the arts in East Africa and cultural exchange between African and European artists.
From 1980 onwards Buck has exhibited regularly, mostly in Europe and America and has contributed to some of the recent significant sculpture exhibitions in Britain.
Selected Exhibitions
2024
‘Dreaming in Fire’ Royal West of England Academy, Bristol. One of six invited artists
2023
‘Fifteen’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
‘Focus on Four’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
2022
‘Material World’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘Patterns of Change’ Solo Exhibition, Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
‘Back to the Cave’ Clearwell Caves, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. Curated by Gallery Pangolin
2021
‘Craving Colour’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
‘Off the Wall’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘March of Mutability’ Solo Exhibition, Museum in the Park, Stroud. Curated by Gallery Pangolin
2020
‘Sculptors’ Works on Paper’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
‘Nature Unwrapped’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
2019
‘Jon Buck: Time of Our Lives’ Solo Exhibition across two venues: Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire and Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
‘Sculpture Open’ Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2018
‘Sculptors’ Maquettes’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘Decade: Pangolin London’s 10 Year Anniversary’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
2017
‘ARK’ Chester Cathedral, Chester
‘Focus on the Figure: Sculptors’ Prints and Drawings’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
2016
‘Jubilee’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire. One of thirty invited artists invite to create a piece in sterling silver
‘Nature of the Beast’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘Sculpture in the Garden’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
2015
‘Coded for Colour’ Solo exhibition Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
‘Toro’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘Sculptors’ Prints & Drawings’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
2014
‘Crucible 2’ Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester
‘Without Words’ Solo exhibition Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘Sculptors’ Prints & Drawings’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘Sculpture Showcase’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
2013
‘Sculptors’ Prints & Drawings’ Part of Impress ’13 International Printmaking Festival, Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘Drawn’ Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2012
‘Turning Inside Out’ Solo exhibition Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
Selected to contribute to ‘Sculptors’ Drawings & Works on Paper’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
2011
‘Making a Point: the Point of Making’ Solo exhibition Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire. Accompanied by a specially
published book of the same title
‘Sculptors’ Prints’ In Conjunction with Impress 2011 National Printmaking Festival, Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘Beast’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
2010
Invited to contribute to ‘Crucible – the Sculpture Show of the Decade’, Gloucester Cathedral
One of four artists featured in ‘Figuring it Out’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
‘Stirred for a Bird’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
2009
‘Behind the Lines’ Solo exhibition Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
‘A Celebration of British Sculpture’ Harold Martin Botanic Gardens, Leicester
‘British Silver Week 2009’, various venues, London
‘Fire and Brimstone’ Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire. One of twelve sculptors invited to experiment with the
casting process at Pangolin Editions foundry
‘Sculptors’ Prints’ Part of Impress ’09 National Printmaking Festival, Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
2008
One of 50 artists invited to take part in ‘Sterling Stuff II’ Pangolin London, Kings Place, London
‘Image’ collaborative exhibition with photographer Steve Russell at the Campden Gallery, Gloucestershire
2006
One of three artists invited to contribute to ‘Animals and Birds’, Jubilee Park, Canary Wharf, London
‘Art London’, Chelsea, London, solo exhibition
2005
‘Odd Birds and Other Selves’ solo exhibition of recent work, Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire.
Catalogue introduced by Professor Colin Rhodes, author of Primitivism and Modern Art and Outsider Art,
Spontaneous Alternatives
‘Out of the Melting Pot’ invited group of artists working in bronze, Parc Heintz, Luxembourg
2003
Invited to exhibit in ‘BLOK’ Festival of Sculpture, Canterbury
One of fifty artists invited by Gallery Pangolin to make work to be cast into silver for ‘Sterling Stuff’,
also exhibited at the Sigurjon Olafsson Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland and the Royal Academy, London
2002
Invited to exhibit in the Fantastic Animals exhibition at the Donjon de Vez, Paris, France
Contributor to Thinking Big: Small Work for Large Projects at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice, Italy
2001
Commissioned to make a sculpture for the main collection of Sculpture at Goodwood, East Sussex
2000
Commissioned to produce a sculpture for the year-long Millennium exhibition BRONZE: contemporary sculpture in bronze
held in Holland Park,London
Intimate Connections solo show, Gallery Pangolin, Gloucestershire
1999
Chosen to contribute to The Shape of the Century: 100 years of Sculpture in Britain shown at Salisbury Cathedral
and Canary Wharf, London
Selected Recent Commissions
2008 Out of the Blue 525cm high steel commission for Odyssey Complex, Belfast, design accepted, funding applied for
2007 Ship to Shore 300cm high bronze commissioned for Portishead Quays, North Somerset
2005 Aurora 50cm high bronze purchased for the Haberdasher’s Livery Hall, City of London
2004 Flat Out 200cm high bronze commissioned for the Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health, Bristol University
2002 Family 170cm high bronze purchased for Paddington Central Development, London
2001 Equilibrium, 165cm high bronze purchased for Milton Keynes General Hospital
2000 In the Swim 200cm high bronze commissioned for West Quay Shopping Centre, Southampton
Family 170cm high bronze purchased for Milton Keynes General Hospital
1999 Returning to Embrace 150cm high bronze purchased for the permanent collection of Canary Wharf, London
1998 Embracing the Sea 300cm high bronze commissioned for the entrance to Deal Pier, Kent
1996 New Age 90cm high bronze commissioned for the New Consulate General Building in Hong Kong
Publications
Sculpture at Canary Wharf: A Decade of Exhibitions
Canary Wharf PLC 2011
ISBN: 978 0 9563648 1 4
Making A Point: The Point of Making
Rungwe Kingdon Pangolin 2011
ISBN: 978 0 9570417
Public Sculpture of Bristol (Public Sculpture of Britain)
Douglas Merrit, Francis Greenacre, Katherine Eustice 2010
ISBN-10: 1846316383
ISBN-13: 978 1846316388
Bronze Sculpture – Casting and Patination – Mud Fire Metal
Steve Hurst Schiffer Publishing Ltd 2005
ISBN: 0 7643 2164 1
Modern British Sculpture
Guy Portelli Schiffer Publishing Ltd 2005
ISBN: 0 7643 2111 0
Sculpture at Goodwood – British Contemporary Sculpture 02/03
Sculpture at Goodwood
ISBN: 0 9537794 1 6
A Vision for Twenty First Century British Sculpture
Sculpture at Goodwood 2002
ISBN: 0 9537794 2 4
Concepts for Twenty First Century British Sculpture:Thinking Big
Sculpture at Goodwood 2002
ISBN: 0 9537794 3 2
Bronze: Contemporary British Sculpture Holland Park
Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Libraries & Arts Service 2000
ISBN: 0 902242 19 9
The Alchemy of Sculpture
Tony Birks-Hay Marston House 1998 and 2004
ISBN: 1 899296 07 7 (Hardback)
1 899296 20 4 (Paperback)
The Encyclopedia of Sculpting Techniques
John Plowman Running Press 1995
ISBN: 1 5613853 2 8
Art for Public Places
Malcolm Miles Winchester School of Art Press 1989
ISBN: 0 9506783 8 4
Superhumanism 2 – A Survey of a Current Art Movement
Nicholas Treadwell Publications 1982
ISBN: 0 907932 01 0