Tom Bull b. 1995 studied MFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths University. He lives and works in London, UK. Bull makes sculptures in an attempt to capture the lived experience of our current troubled times. Through the vernacular of folklore, urbanisation and ritual, Bull investigates the tension and slippage between fiction and representation, violence and sensitivity, truth and mythology. Employing a wide range of tools and materials borrowed from architecture, model making, craft, aspirational design, farming and forestry, Bull’s sculptural practice confronts and manipulates traditions, time periods, lore and genre. His most recent works interrogate “country life” by challenging issues around land, loss, community, wealth, nostalgia, access and labour.

‘Back-to-Nature’ follows on from a series of pastoral paraphernalia/facades made from wattle and daub, an archaic process that combines clay and hay to create basic shelters. A procedure that harks back to a pre-industrialised time, where things were sourced locally and built sustainably. Bull’s work is part of a revival of these traditional practices used to obscure rising concerns of capitalism, urban development, climate crisis, pandemics, nationalism and acts of terror.

Notable recent solo exhibitions include: Des Bains, London, UK (2024); ’Under Cover of Darkness’, E-Werk, Freiburg, Germany (2023) ‘To Whom Do You Trust with the Spare Keys’, Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, UK (2019). Recent residences and awards include: Chilgok International Transmedia Festival, Yetea Museum, Korea (2023); Turf Projects ‘Desire Paths’ public commission (2023); London Bronze Casting Fellowship (2023); New Contemporaries recipient (2022); Hari Graduate Art Prize, Selected by Gavin Turk, Liz Gilmore, Matthew Burrows, and Aindrea Emelife (2022); Goldsmiths academic excellence (2020);  Sudgen Arts Fellowship (2018).

selected works