Nicholas POPE

Nicholas Pope's exhibition, his first in London since 2003, features sculpture in all the materials the artist has used: chalk, marble, wood, fabric and porcelain. Amongst the highlights will be Seven Odd Chalks (1978), a major sculpture of the 1970s; Piss Urinals of the 1990s; and a new cloth sculpture, Mr and Mrs Pope knitted, shrunk and hung (2012), a portrait of the artist and his wife Janet made of knitted felt mohair.

Also included will be a selection of the artists drawings, including Black Balls of 1981, over 5 metres in length, and, exhibited for the first time,Red Eight Holes, 1981.

The exhibition at Richard Saltoun Gallery will be held at the same time as the exhibition of his sculptural installation of terracotta figures, The Apostles speaking in Tongues lit by their own Lamps, 1993-1996, at Salisbury Cathedral. Drawing upon the New Testament's account of the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, the work will be on display for Pentecost (June 8th) through to 3rd August.

A student at the Bath Academy of Art (1970-73), Pope had early success in his career; Norman Reid, Director of the Tate Gallery at the time, purchased works from his first solo exhibition in 1976. Four years later he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale. His career was cut short in 1985 with the diagnosis of a debilitating illness during a visit to the Makonda tribe to study wood carving. After a ten-year struggle to recover his health, Pope regained his abilities and his important post-recovery sculpture installation, The Apostles Speaking in Tongues, was shown to much accolade by the Tate in its 'Art Now' programme in 1996.

Pope represented Britain at the 1980 Venice Biennale and his work is included in selected collections include Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Portugal; Bonnefanten Museum, the Netherlands; the National Galleries of Scotland, Scotland; Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands; and the Tate, UK. Selected exhibitions include the Guggenheim, NYC, USA (1980); Tate, UK (1996/1997); Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK and Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, The Netherlands (2002); the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede, The Netherlands (2008); and the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK (2011).