altered - Tony Heaton OBE

9 Jul-24 Sep 2022

Raspberry Ripple,, 2019, Neon. Credit: Courtesy Grundy Art Gallery Collection, photo: Jonathon Lynch

Overview

altered is a major solo exhibition by British sculptor and disability rights activist, Tony Heaton OBE. The exhibition explores Heaton’s sculptural practice from his early disability rights activism and his initiation of the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive (NDACA), to more recent work that includes direct stone carving and neon text pieces. With wit and self-awareness, Heaton uses a range of materials and techniques to produce intelligent and thought-provoking work that is a reflection of the artist’s own biography.

As the artist says,
“I am almost always reminded that I am perceived as a disabled person, and much of my work explores my personal analysis of these everyday interactions.”

Grundy Art Gallery’s presentation of altered follows on from the gallery’s 2019 presentation of NDACA at the Grundy: Art, Anger and Rights from The Disability Arts Movement, an exhibition that included work by Heaton and from which a work, Raspberry Ripple (2019) by the artist was acquired for the Grundy Art Gallery permanent collection.  altered is presented in partnership with Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre who have produced a catalogue to accompany the exhibition. The catalogue includes a foreword by Grundy Art Gallery’s Curator, Paulette Brien and texts by Bryan Biggs, Director of Cultural Legacies at the Bluecoat, Liverpool and Allan Sutherland, writer, performer and disability arts activist. The catalogue will be available to buy from Grundy Art Gallery’s shop throughout the summer.