Guy Taplin 2023

The enduring bird sculptor returns to Messum’s St. James’s for with a major new collection of work in February 2023. Regular sell-outs, these shows are always highly anticipated by collectors who revel in these masterly, stylised forms which seem to breathe each bird’s very essence.

A colourful character - Taplin first rose to fame during the 1960s designing and selling avant-garde belt buckles to the rich and famous on London’s Carnaby Street. A change in lifestyle led him to become the ‘birdman’ at London Zoo and it was there that he began whittling the shapes of birds from discarded pieces of wood. Forty years later, having formed a strong relationship with David Messum, Taplin is now considered to be one of the UK’s most successful sculptors and enjoys regular sell-out shows at the London gallery.