Halliday Avray Wilson (born 1967) - Lot 213

Halliday Avray Wilson (born 1967) Escape Sculpture in soldered brass, copper and bronze One-of-a-kind piece Signed "HAL. W" on the base H. 67.4 cm British sculptor Halliday Avray-Wilson, also known as Hal Wilson, is the grandson of painter Franck Avray-Wilson. Trained in sculpture at the Beaux-Arts in Oxford and Florence, he moved to France in 1994. He works mainly in bronze and steel, which he approaches brutally and aggressively using explosives at the start of his career, then in a more traditional way in collaboration with the Dontreix foundry in Creuse. His series of welded bronze sculptures entitled Weight Figure reflects an aesthetic quest that blends abstraction and figuration. In 2000, Hal Wilson created an allegory of Victory for the commune of Les Ancizes in the Puys-de- Dôme region, in homage to the Resistance fighters of Combrailles. His Running Man sculpture for the 2012 London Olympics, featuring a runner, was a great success. In 2014, he was named Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres.