Francis Upritchard

Francis Upritchard was born in 1976 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. She lives and works in London and New Zealand. Upritchard's work draws on figurative sculpture, craft traditions and design, blending references from literature to Japanese folklore, Indian miniatures to Romanesque frescoes, and ancient sculptures and burial grounds to science fiction. Her installations showcase a wide variety of materials; her distinctive figurative sculptures are made using polymer plastic, amorphous mythological figures in balata - a Brazilian rubber, bronze dinosaurs, glass vessels, ceramic urns and felt hats adorned with beads, badges and plastic decorations.

Francis Upritchard was included in the 57th Venice Biennale. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Barbican Centre, London (2018-19), the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and Christchurch Art Gallery, NZ (2017); the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), Melbourne, Australia (2016); and at the City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand (2016); The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2014); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2014); the Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan (2013); The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland (2013); Nottingham Contemporary, UK (2012); Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati (2012); and the 53rd Venice Biennale, Italy (2009).