John Gibbons was born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1949 and was educated at the Limerick School of Art, the Crawford Municipal School of Art and at London’s St Martin’s School of Art. Gibbons has produced a body of inventive, poetic, singular work that prompted Michael Harrison, the director of the University of Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard, to describe him as “one of the most distinct and distinguished sculptural voices of the late twentieth century.” Many other significant voices in contemporary art offer similar insights.

“On a recent visit to Gibbons’ studio, we began to talk about Matisse. ‘Matisse is intellectual’, Gibbons said, ‘but his work is still about instinct and emotion. He applied extraordinary intelligence and focussed emotion in a very intense way. He didn’t get distracted.’ Gibbons could have been speaking of his own intentions.” – Karen Wilkin

“Arguably one of the hallmarks of any art of significance is its capacity to change the way we look at things. Gibbons’ work constitutes a distinctive exploration of areas of experience which we sometimes overlook or take for granted because of their containment within the precincts of the familiar. His sculpture draws the spaces we occupy into poetic alignment with the body we inhabit, underlining and illuminating some fundamental aspects of life. In so doing it returns us to our surroundings with a heightened awareness of ourselves and our relation to the world.” – Paul Moorhouse

“Gibbons’ work has an immense physical presence which exists regardless of size…. whether painted or polished, rusted, scraped or simply left alone, every inch of surface has been analysed, affirmed and consequently activated.” – Tim Marlow

• 2019 Larry Poons and John Gibbons: Surface and Light, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
• 2017 The Messengers, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
• 2016/17 Artist Boss, New Art Centre, Roche Court, England
• 2016 Now and Then, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
• 2015 Making It: Sculpture in Britain 1977-1986, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, England; University of Warwick, England; Edinburgh Art Centre, Scotland; Fundació Caixa, Spain
• 2015 John Gibbons: A Line of Thought, Sculpture 1980-2014, The Studio, Deptford, London, England
• 2014 John Gibbons: Colour / Light, Custom House Studios Gallery, Westport, Mayo, Ireland
• 2014 GIBBONS/WALKER/WARREN: John Gibbons, Corban Walker, Michael Warren, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
• 2013 Iron & Steel, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
• 2011 On The Floor, Gooden Gallery, London, England
• 2011 Three , Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
• 2010 Light/Listen: Selected Sculpture 1991-2010, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
• 2009/10 John Gibbons: Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London
• 2007 Endless Sky/And Other Stories, Flowers Central, London
• 2006 Canem Galeria, Castello, Spain
• 2005 North, South, East and West, John Gibbons’ New Work: Sculpture in the Workplace, Canary Wharf, London
• 2005 John Gibbons and Charles Tyrrell, Taylor Galleries, Dublin, Ireland
• 2003 As One – New Sculptures, Flowers East, London
• 2002 Untold, The Napoleon Garden, Holland Park, London
• 2001 John Gibbons, Flowers Central, London
• 1999 Being, Nograd History Museum, Salgotarjan, Hungary
• 1999 Being, Endre Horvath Gallery, Balassagyarmat, Hungary
• 1999 Body and Soul, Flowers East, London
• 1999 From the Hand, Taylor Galleries, Dublin
• 1998 John Gibbons: The Small Sculpture 1981 – 1998’Lothbury Gallery, London
• 1998 Signs of Passage, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
• 1998 Signs of Passage, Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
• 1997 Form and Metaphor, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, England
• 1997 Form and Metaphor, Kettles Yard, Cambridge, England
• 1997 New Sculpture. Flowers East at London Fields, London
• 1996 From Night to Day, Butler Gallery, The Castle, Kilkenny, Ireland
• 1994 Flowers East, London
• 1992 New Sculpture, Angela Flowers Gallery London Fields, London
• 1990 Flowers East Gallery, London
• 1988 Small Sculptures 1981-1987, Madeleine Carter Fine Art, Boston, USA
• 1987 Galerie Wentzel, Koln, Germany
• 1986 Sculpture 1981-1986, Serpentine Gallery, London
• 1986 John Gibbons Sculpture, John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, England
• 1984 The Triangle Centre, New York, USA
• 1981 Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London
• 1979 Project Arts Centre Gallery, Dublin
• 1975 International Arts Centre, London

Arts Council, England; Syracuse University, New York, USA; Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada; The Modern Art Centre / Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal; The Comino Foundation; Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain; Tate Gallery, London; Contemporary Irish Arts Society, Dublin; Office of Public Works (OPW), Ireland; Nograd History Museum, Salgotarjan, Hungary; The Whitworth Art Gallery , Manchester, England; The National Self-Portrait Collection, University of Limerick, Ireland; Czech Museum of Fine Arts, Prague; Sculpture at Goodwood; Contemporary Art Society, London; Bank of Montreal, Canada.