Colin Figue

Colin Figue (b. 1943) is a British sculptor whose work is rooted in direct carving and a close understanding of stone. Working principally in marble and other natural materials, he creates abstract forms in which curved and straight edges, solid mass and open space are carefully balanced.

Figue studied at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design before attending the Royal Academy Schools from 1966 to 1969, where he specialised in sculpture. After travelling in the Middle East, Africa and South America, he lived for a period in Spain before moving to Cambridge, where he studied bronze casting with the sculptor Michael Gillespie.

From 1974 to 1976 Figue worked in Portugal with the Irish painter and ceramicist Patrick Swift. With support from the British Council and the Portuguese Government, he was awarded scholarships to Portugal in 1977 and 1979 and spent more than a year working in the marble quarries of Vila Viçosa in the Alentejo. He has lived and worked in southern Portugal since 1981.

Travel has continued to play an important part in his practice. Figue has spent extended periods in India, including time carving in the temple workshops of Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, where traditional methods of working directly into stone remain central to the craft.

Writing about Figue’s sculpture in 1994, Richard Caston observed that “the hammer and chisel directed by a keen eye and intuitive grasp give the work a human scale and measure”, describing the sculptures as an interplay of “opposite forces through interlocking elements, curved and straight edges, form and space”.

Figue’s sculptures are represented in public and open-air collections internationally, including in Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Japan, Taiwan, China, India, South Korea, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Lebanon. In 1999 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. His work has continued to be exhibited at The Redfern Gallery, including in the gallery’s 2024 Summer Exhibition.