About Michael Dean

Michael Dean was born in 1977 in Newcastle Upon Tyne and now lives and works in London.

Michael Dean’s immersive sculptural installations begin with his own writing, which he translates into physical form, from letter-like human-scale figures to self-published books deployed as sculptural elements within his installations. His materials are readily available, and include concrete and steel reinforcement bars. His sculptures are exposed to the elements as he works on them outdoors.

 Dean’s new work for The Hepworth Wakefield recreates a street in concrete tongues, along which we are invited to walk. The tongues – which could also be torsos – are cast using the artist’s own body. The figures are ‘three crying LOLs’ which take the dimensions of the artist and his two sons. ‘LOL’ and the ‘laugh-out-loud-to-the-point-of-laughing-crying emoji’ are often repeated in Dean’s works, appearing alongside padlocks and coins – which he sees as forms of utterance in themselves – to contain emotion in a gesture.

Other recent solo exhibitions include Teaxths and Angeruage, Portikus, Frankfurt (2017); Lost True Leaves, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2016) and Sic Glyphs, South London Gallery, London (2016)