Brian Catling

Brian Catling RA (23 October 1948 – 26 September 2022) was a British sculptor, poet, novelist, film maker and performance artist. He was educated at North East London Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. He held the post of Professor of Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford and was a fellow of Linacre College. He exhibited his work internationally since the 1970s. Some of his most notable works and performances included: Quill Two at Matt's Gallery, Dilston Grove in 2011, Antix at Matt's Gallery in 2006, a commissioned memorial to the Site of Execution, Tower of London in 2006, Vanished! A Video Seance made with screenwriter Tony Grisoni in 1999 and Cyclops at South London Gallery 1996.

In 2001 he co-founded the international performance collective WitW.

As a writer he published poetic works, including one compendium, A Court of Miracles, in 2009. His first prose book Bobby Awl was published in 2007. He completed The Vorrh trilogy of novels in 2018.

In 2019 Company Carpi, the partnership of choreographer Bettina Carpi and composer Gary Lloyd, based their hybrid dance piece The Stumbling Block on the poetry cycle by Catling, which includes sections of the cycle recorded with Catling himself at his home in Wytham, Oxford. Catling was the subject of a BBC Arena programme about his life and work, entitled Where Does it All Come From?, which aired in November 2021.

Catling died from small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, a rare form of cancer, on 26 September 2022, at the age of 73. He was survived by his fourth wife, Caroline Ullman, and his children.