Jonathan Callan

Jonathan Callan was born in Manchester in 1961. His education in the arts commenced at Goldsmiths College of Art in 1980-1984 and thereafter he attended Slade School of Fine Arts from 1988-90. He became a Henry Moore fellow in sculpture at the Winchester School of Art in 1993. He now lives and works in London.

His style takes a unique approach in field of sculpture, instead of working on paper as a medium Callan chooses to exploit/challenge the physicality of the paper as the central focus of his work. In reworking the books or printed paper he completely transforms its physicality into a more powerful appearing sculptural medium. Any text or image previously printed on the paper Callan seeks to abrade so to remove its presence/previous intended purpose and therefore transform its identity. People often regard the words in a book to be its most important feature, rather than looking at the book itself as an object. Callan’s interests lie in how a material can be broken down and changed, what can it achieve when challenged and what are its limitations. His aim is to achieve a paradox of going beyond the surface as to what we can see and go inside it.

Callan has exhibited extensively both nationally and around the world over the last 30 years. A list of his solo exhibitions includes Galerie Martin Kudlele, Cologne, Hales Gallery, London and Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York amongst many others. His works are also included in many museum and gallery collections: The British Council, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds and Leopold Hoesch Museum, Germany.