Bryan Hanlon

Bryan Hanlon lives and works in rural Wiltshire, surrounded by the type of environment that has inspired his work.

Bryan is widely regarded as one of the UK’s leading artists, having enjoyed many successful exhibitions around the world, including Nature in Art, Gloucester, The Tryon and Swann, London, and the prestigious ‘Birds in Art’ exhibition in Wisconsin, America.

Artistic forays have taken him throughout Europe and America and into Africa, which inspired his magnificent book ‘Birds and Beasts Africa’, published by Swann Hill Press, Shrewsbury.

Bryan Hanlon has mastered not only two dimensional art forms but also three dimensional through his beautiful bronzes of birds. Bryan describes his process as follows: “The sculpture takes shape, firstly just the rough shape and dimensions, in the same way in which you would start an oil with an underpainting. This allows you to compose the sculpture and crucially, gives you an idea of its presence, and it’s relationship with the base. Dimensions can come from anywhere; skeletons, photographs, or just observing the subject in the wild in relation to objects that surround it.

From here, the body of the sculpture is slowly refined; adding and removing detail, and generally building up the piece to it’s finished state. The materials used here very much influence the look of the final sculpture, and are chosen with the desired size and feel in mind.

The completed sculpture is then taken to the craftsmen at Pangolin foundry in Stroud, where it is cast into bronze (and in some cases silver) using the lost wax method.”

Although birds remain an important subject and the initial source of inspiration, Bryan is currently focusing on still life and landscape paintings.  Forest Gallery is pleased to hold a selection of Bryan Hanlon paintings as well as limited edition prints. To discuss any specific requirements or commissions please get in touch with us.