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Guy Taplin Biography
Born in the East End of London on the eve of World War Two, and evacuated to Herefordshire before returning to roam the woods and hedges of Epping, Guy Taplin had an obsession with birds from the outset. But, after a near-lethal spell in the army, he careered through endless menial jobs, finding brief fame making hippy buckles in ‘Swinging London’ before hitting on his vocation by happy accident. It is now almost legend that, while caring for the ornamental waterfowl in Regent’s Park and training to become a Buddhist monk, the Bird Man began on a whim to whittle crude, decoy images of his charges in wood and never stopped.
Likened by Michael Palin to a ‘magician’, there is certainly something of the alchemist about Taplin as, with the minimum of tools and techniques, he turns driftwood and other pieces of discarded timber into stands or flights of birds. Now collected around the world, they are vessels for our dreams. The latest book on Guy Taplin, ‘Bird on a Wire: The Life and Art of Guy Taplin’ is by Ian Collins. (Studio Publications: £29.95)
2013 Messum's, Cork Street
2013 Ruthin Gallery, North Wales
2012 Courcoux & Courcous, Sweet 16
2011 Messum’s, Cork Street.
2010 Courcoux & Courcoux, A Family Affair.
Courcoux & Courcoux, Guy Taplin 25 Knot Out.
2009 Messum’s, Cork Street.
2008 Courcoux Contemporary Art Ltd.
2007 Messum’s, Cork Street.
2006 Messum’s, Cork Street.
2005 Messum’s, Cork Street.
2004 Courcoux Contemporary Art Ltd.
2002 Courcoux Contemporary Art Ltd.
2001 First solo show with David Messum Fine Art, Cork Street.
Ian Collins, Bird on a Wire: The Life and Art of Guy Taplin, Marlowe: Studio Publications, 2007
Public collections include:
Tate Gallery
Arts Council of Great Britain
Contemporary Art Society
London Zoo
Royal Bank of Scotland
National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Society of Wildlife Artists
Washington State University
Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg
Anthony Petullo Collection of Self-Taught and Outsider Art, Milwaukee
Private collections include:
Royal Collection
Lady Lavinia Bolton
Uri Geller
Guinness family
Michael Heseltine
Sir Timothy and Lady Hoare
Baroness Kingsmill CBE
Mark Knopfler
Lord McAlpine
The Earl of Medway
Mike Nichols
Michael Palin
Sian Phillips
Lord (David) Puttnam
Sainsbury family
Ridley Scott
Jon Snow
Richard Stilgoe
Una Stubbs
Sir Clive Woodward
The late Gerald Durrell
The late Dame Elisabeth Frink
The late Robert Mitchum
The late Jean Muir
The late Jacqueline Onassis
The late Squadron Leader Peter Townsend
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 Autumn 2007.jpg)
Guy Taplin
Studio Publications 2013
East Coast Influences
Studio Publications 2012
Guy Taplin 2011
Studio Publications 2011
Spring Catalogue
Studio Publications 2010
East Coast Influences, 2010
Studio Publications 2010
70th Birthday Exhibition
Studio Publications 2009
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Driftwood Sculpture
Studio Publications 2007
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East Coast Influences, 2007
Studio Publications 2007
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Recent Sculpture, 2006
Studio Publications 2006
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Making Waves: Artists in Southwold
Published by Black Dog Books 2005
Original Works and Bronze Editions
Studio Publications 2001
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Bird on a Wire: The Life and Art of Guy Taplin
Studio Publications
Guy Taplin elsewhere on the web