Barry Flanagan

Waddington Custot is pleased to share ‘Barry Flanagan: Two by Two’, an exhibition of bronze sculptures by one of Britain’s most distinctive and imaginative sculptors. Bringing together works made between 1983 and 2008, the exhibition explores the dialogue between paired animal forms, most notably the hare, for which Flanagan is best known. These dynamic pairings invite reflection on themes of duality, performance, and play. The exhibition also marks forty-five years since Flanagan’s first solo show at Waddington Custot (then Waddington Galleries) in 1980.

Flanagan’s practice was shaped by a deep engagement with landscape, myth, and material. The seasons, ancient symbols, and local folklore – alongside an enduring interest in process – inflect his practice. From the 1980s onwards, Flanagan’s turn to bronze marked a new phase in his work, enabling a synthesis between classical, sculptural tradition and the idiosyncratic, conceptual impulses of his earlier work. His initial experiments with materials such as sand, cloth, and rope reflected an interest in process, spontaneity, and the absurdist logic of ‘pataphysics’ – Alfred Jarry’s “science of imaginary solutions.” In bronze, Flanagan found new ways to carry forward these ideas. 

While the hare remains one of Flanagan’s most recognised figures, it is with frequent warmth and wit that animals of all kinds populate Flanagan’s oeuvre;  hares, elephants, dogs and horses, moulded first in clay and then cast into bronze, fuse the everyday, the imaginary and the fantastical. Within this, Flanagan is perhaps best known for his dynamic and often monumental bronze hares, which spring into life as one of his most important characters. Presented in differing poses in a variety of sizes and combinations, among bronzes made over 30 years, hares proliferate. Viewed together, the bronze figures become a comment on the archetype of classical sculpture. 

Flanagan’s animals are distinctly anthropomorphic – leaping, boxing, or pausing mid-pirouette. In many ways, they became a versatile surrogate for the human figure: theatrical, animated, and contemplative. Through this motif, Flanagan explored questions of identity, gesture, and emotion, drawing on sources from folklore to philosophy, while maintaining the playful, subversive tone that defined his earlier work.

Flanagan’s use of the pair in much of his sculptural practice nods to his intention for his sculptures not to be autonomous objects, but instead, characters in conversation. A hallmark of Flanagan’s ideal exhibition was this sense of interplay between works, in which meaning emerges through juxtaposition. In ‘Two by Two’, this relational approach is central: the animals perform together, balancing, mirroring, or responding to one another in ways that animate the space between them. Each figure carries an anthropomorphic charge, embodying the humorous, poignant, and celebratory qualities that run throughout Flanagan’s work.

Barry Flanagan: Two by Two invites viewers to consider how repetition, pairing, and performance shaped the artist’s bronze sculpture. Moving beyond the iconic hare, the exhibition opens up a wider understanding of Flanagan’s sculptural imagination: absurdist, playful, and layered.