Stephen Cripps: Pyrotechnic Sculptor

Stephen Cripps: Pyrotechnic Sculptor is the first posthumous exhibition of the work of British sculptor and performance artist Stephen Cripps (1952-82). Spanning the artist’s short career from 1970 to 1982, the exhibition explores the startling originality of Cripps’ sculptural experiments.

Cripps transformed objects with actions, sound and pyrotechnics. He developed numerous and ambitious schemes for mechanical sculptures and performances involving military hardware, fire, smoke, light and amplified sound. His proposals ranged from mobile crematoria to mechanical gardens, exploding balloons, floating fires and choreographed aerial performances.

Today all that survives of his sculptures are photographs and drawings, moving from detailed plans and large-scale mixed media works to rapid sketches on scraps of paper that, torn, singed and smeared, bear the marks of Cripps’ experimentation.

Stephen Cripps: Pyrotechnic Sculptor celebrates the acquisition of Cripps’ archive by the Henry Moore Institute Archive. A part of Leeds Museum and Galleries, the Archive is managed in a unique partnership that has built one of the strongest public collections of sculpture in Britain.

This exhibition is one of a series highlighting recent acquisitions to the collection, focusing on artists who emerged in the 1970s and 80s, including Phyllida Barlow, Helen Chadwick, Shelagh Cluett, Keir Smith and Darrell Viner.