LONDON, ENGLAND.-The Drawing Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of New Drawings by Michael Sandle, one of Europe’s most original and significant artists of the past fifty years. Michael Sandle (b. 1936) studied at the Douglas School of Art, Isle of Man, as well as Chester, Colchester and The Slade. He has been the recipient of a number of awards including the Abbey Travel Award; the French State Scholarship, Nobutaka Shikanai Prize, Japan; Major Prize 7th International Sculpture Exhibition, Hungary; and a DAAD Research Grant. In 1990 he became a Royal Academician, he resigned in 1997 and re-joined in 2005.

Sandle has exhibited internationally since the late 50s and retrospectives of his work have been held at The Whitechapel, London (1988) and W�rttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (1989). His public sculptural commissions include Woman for Heidelberg, Germany; Saint George and the Dragon, London; Malta Siege-Bell Memorial, Valletta; and The Seafarers Memorial, London. Exhibitions of his work related to memorials have been held in The Imperial War Museum and the Tate Liverpool. He has been included twice in Documenta, Kassel, Germany.

His work is represented in collections world-wide including the Arts Council, British Museum, Imperial War Museum, Tate Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum – all in London; and the Whitworth Museum, Manchester; Metropolitan Museum, New York; Museum of Art, Dallas; Seattle Art Museum; Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Bundesministerium des Innern, Bonn; Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe; Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; St�dtische Kunstahalle, Mannheim; Muzeum Narodow, Gdansk; Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz; and Hakone Open Air Museum, Japan.

Sandle has taught at various art schools in the UK including Leicester, Nottingham, Coventry and The Slade. He has undertaken a Professorial role in a number of art faculties including the University of Calgary, Alberta; University of Victoria, British Columbia; Fachhochschule f�r Gestaltung, Pforzheim and from 1980 to 1999 at Akademie f�r Bildenden K�nste, Karlsruhe. He currently lives and works in London.

Reflecting upon the significance of drawing within his broad practice Sandle wrote recently: ‘I do not think of myself as being primarily a sculptor. I think of myself as being simply a visual artist. Drawing – and I include watercolour painting here – and printmaking – are as important to me as sculpture. I trawl my so-called ‘sub-consciousness’ or imagination for ideas and images. Drawing is for me the main method of fixing and developing these ideas and images, which may or may not be carried through into sculpture. My approach is not necessarily analytical, some things I just have to do because of neurotically obsessional or emotional involvement, but I do also often say to myself, quite objectively, “What would happen if I do this?” and try out many variations of an idea in my sketchbooks. It will be fairly obvious that my choice of subject matter does not reflect a particularly optimistic outlook; the human condition in my view is essentially tragic. This is perhaps why I have always been extraordinarily moved by the First World War.’