0:03:42 > 0:03:48I think everybody here knows that Barry can't be with us, on doctor's orders.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52And, of course, it takes a bit of the joy out of the proceedings,
0:03:52 > 0:03:58but he is so determined that this should be the celebration that he planned.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35We both used to work nightshifts at Parker's Bakery
0:05:35 > 0:05:37in Cotham in Bristol.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42And I used to load up the machines with empty baking tins
0:05:42 > 0:05:46and Barry used to put the jam in the doughnuts.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51It amused me to think that putting jam into doughnuts was almost a sculptural act
0:05:51 > 0:05:55in the same way as changing the shape of a piece of clay
0:05:55 > 0:05:59or adding something to clay or stone in some of his later work.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02That projection of the human
0:06:02 > 0:06:07into the natural world, so to speak, through animals,
0:06:07 > 0:06:12is something that goes back a very long way
0:06:12 > 0:06:14in both art and poetry.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Barry has more than a...more than a touch of the shaman about him.
0:06:19 > 0:06:25The way he can take something out of the world of the every day and transmute it.
0:06:25 > 0:06:33He has this way of making a relationship between his body, his hand
0:06:33 > 0:06:37and the materials. It's almost as if, in some circumstances,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41he lets the materials lead his hand. He refers somewhere, doesn't he,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44to the work "showing" his hand.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48I love that idea that the work shows your hand,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52rather than you're imposing something on the work,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56the work and you are in some kind of relationship.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01We had lunch together recently. He still has that eye,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04that curiously...
0:07:08 > 0:07:12..magical...way of picking up...
0:07:13 > 0:07:16..everything that's going on around him
0:07:16 > 0:07:20and seizing on the detail of the everyday particulars.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27I remember Barry when he first came to St Martin's.
0:07:27 > 0:07:33He didn't join the class to get some diploma or anything.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36He just wanted to be there.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40I think he'd heard it was an exciting place to be.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42And from the word go, you know,
0:07:42 > 0:07:48he was really a refreshing and important presence there.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52At the time, Carlo had just made a breakthrough
0:07:52 > 0:08:00and Barry was aware of the various tendencies in the art world,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02and his first work was a steel work,
0:08:02 > 0:08:09but it had many surprises which kind of flummoxed everybody. "Why are you doing this?
0:08:09 > 0:08:12"Why are you doing that?"
0:08:12 > 0:08:16And we had a good argument as to whether it could really...
0:08:16 > 0:08:20It didn't fit in to the canons that he'd already been operating around.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26He was a maverick. I think he's carried on being a maverick for the rest of his life.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Skill was not something you demonstrated.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32You avoided it.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36And Barry took it on and said, "I'm going to be skilful."
0:08:36 > 0:08:38And he was.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42And I think he sort of confronted skill
0:08:42 > 0:08:44and went beyond it.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46CHATTERING
0:08:46 > 0:08:50It shows the artist thinking
0:08:50 > 0:08:52and suffering and thinking again
0:08:52 > 0:08:56on top of the anvil of struggling with people
0:08:56 > 0:09:00and galleries and creativity
0:09:00 > 0:09:04and then, on top of it, we have the wonder of this piece.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08I own a sculpture of myself, done in terracotta,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11which had Barry's finger marks on it. He didn't sign it.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16He signed it with his hands, because he's a haptic sculptor, I think,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20so it's his fingers, his fingers on the pieces.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Look, there's his fingers. That's Barry's fingers.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27And what major lessons do you think Barry Flanagan gives artists
0:09:27 > 0:09:29starting out today?
0:09:29 > 0:09:34I think it's, "Go for it even when people are laughing at you
0:09:34 > 0:09:38"and pay no attention whatsoever to what you have to say,"
0:09:38 > 0:09:41which I do remember very well when Barry was young,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44and he didn't talk a lot.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48But what he talked about, people paid no attention to whatsoever
0:09:48 > 0:09:51except stupid me and one or two other people.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55And he was right. He had got it inside him but didn't realise that.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59That's amazing, as well. Elephants.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03This hare dynamic on top of three...
0:10:05 > 0:10:08..four elephants, which happen to be the heaviest creatures,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11you know, that walk the Earth.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16And yet they're kind of dwarfed, supporting this extraordinary hare.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Whereas this has all this kind of amazing...
0:10:20 > 0:10:22..length.
0:10:23 > 0:10:24And height.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31Black.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44And then there he is.
0:10:44 > 0:10:45Flying out.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50It's something that's...
0:10:52 > 0:10:56..completely joyous, really. There's an abandon.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00There's a kind of madness.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04It's like a risky enterprise...
0:11:12 > 0:11:15..in the way they kind of exist and stand
0:11:15 > 0:11:19and can carry on much more happily without us
0:11:19 > 0:11:23cluttering up their feet. Their dance continues now we've gone away.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27They've become more strong, mightier, really...
0:11:43 > 0:11:46SOUND OF WAVES BREAKING
0:13:08 > 0:13:11It's a very different reaction that one hears about Barry
0:13:11 > 0:13:14in America to what is heard in Europe.
0:13:14 > 0:13:15Completely different.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18And it could be like you've just been in the Midwest.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22It could be people in Midtown or it could be people in Washington DC.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27They know, in America, Flanagan quite different
0:13:27 > 0:13:30than the one that we know in England.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33They're almost totally unawares of his early work,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37they're very, very unawares of where he's actually coming from
0:13:37 > 0:13:39or has been himself.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42So it's curious how they perceive him here.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44There is something charitable,
0:13:44 > 0:13:49it would appear, about his whole approach to life, let alone...
0:13:49 > 0:13:51Yeah, I totally agree.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56Is it at all possible that he is due some kind of serious review
0:13:56 > 0:13:59and celebration?
0:13:59 > 0:14:00I think absolutely.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04I've never known anybody else quite like him.
0:14:05 > 0:14:06I have to say.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09He doesn't give much away these days.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13So even the people that work at the gallery feel they have no idea
0:14:13 > 0:14:16where he's coming or going. They're totally confused by him.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18I find it hilarious, as does he.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22SOUND OF WAVES BREAKING
0:14:45 > 0:14:49PLAINTIVE PIANO MUSIC
0:15:38 > 0:15:42I'd just like to say, this is a real pleasure to see all these pieces,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46all these hares scattered across the American landscape,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and that the journey continues.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46We have the largest community college in the area.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48And how many students are there here?
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Over 37,000. That includes credit and non-credit,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54so a lot of people see it.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56Thousands of people every week.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02It's become sort of an icon for the college and a landmark, too.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04It's located right next to the library.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08We'll often see students after class, in between class,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10resting here outside by the sculpture.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14And if this piece has an affect on you, what is the reaction you get?
0:17:14 > 0:17:17I think the word whimsical comes to mind.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Just the fact that people respond to it right away.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25They enjoy it, they find it fun.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28There are many different layers to it,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30so that's always good to start off with,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32with a general good feeling.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03You don't get any hares here.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Right, they're different to what we have, we have the cottontail,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08called the eastern cottontail rabbit.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11- And I think they're smaller.- Yeah. - And they're everywhere.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14You've heard the term multiply like rabbits?
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Which is... So they're all over here in Iowa.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21And do a lot of the wilder animals feed on them?
0:18:22 > 0:18:23Yes.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Coyotes, hawks,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28eagles, the owls...
0:18:28 > 0:18:30most of your bigger predators.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48There's a light rail platform down there
0:18:48 > 0:18:50and during the winter
0:18:50 > 0:18:53or probably during the summer, they have concerts here,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57there'll be hundreds, thousands of people coming by here.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Probably just glance over and look at the hare without ever seeing
0:19:00 > 0:19:03who did it, but here it stands for their perusal.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38BELLS CHIME
0:19:42 > 0:19:45- It's interesting we're hearing a bell ring in the background...- Yes.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49..when, in fact, we have a bell.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Indeed, that's wonderful.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55I like to read the piece almost like a sentence,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57starting at the basis,
0:19:57 > 0:20:02where we have these gorgeous limestone cubes
0:20:02 > 0:20:05that serve as a pedestal for the most
0:20:05 > 0:20:09incredible monumental bell
0:20:09 > 0:20:15that resounds in history and culture.
0:20:15 > 0:20:21So the bell is sort of sitting on top of the history of architectural form,
0:20:21 > 0:20:23the building blocks of architecture.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27And then on the very top we have the ultimate
0:20:27 > 0:20:32in free...free-spirited animal form,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36the hare leaping across the bell.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40It's just a profound, profound piece.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45It's almost a sentence reading about the universe or humanism
0:20:45 > 0:20:46and bringing all of that together.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09So Barry left you a note here the other day.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13And he has presented you with this piece...
0:23:16 > 0:23:19..which you said reminded you of your grandmother.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21My grandmother,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23like in England also,
0:23:23 > 0:23:29at the back of the garden she used to have beehives
0:23:29 > 0:23:34and in times of extreme emotional stress,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37she would go and talk to the bees.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41This, I just put there this morning.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44And, Robin, have you known Barry on this island over the years?
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Yeah, a long time. Long time. I've rubbed rabbits with him.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51- Do people ever throw money in here? - Yeah, for the upkeep.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53For the garden of cigarettes.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Is there any way you think your community was one of the reasons Barry felt comfortable
0:23:57 > 0:24:00when he came here, or was it a very separate kind of universe?
0:24:02 > 0:24:05No, there's the enlightened and there's the other lot, aren't there?
0:24:05 > 0:24:07Barry loved it.
0:24:07 > 0:24:13I have buried many dead birds here in the garden.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19What would you say was the initial,
0:24:19 > 0:24:23beginning of the reason Barry felt comfortable here?
0:24:28 > 0:24:32I guess it was mind over matter.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35HE LAUGHS
0:24:35 > 0:24:39He always had that sort of sense
0:24:39 > 0:24:42of being incognito.
0:24:42 > 0:24:48He reminds me of, "Everybody's talking at me,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51"I can't hear a word they're saying."
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Fast-moving car. HE LAUGHS
0:24:56 > 0:25:02Most of my profound thoughts, they have gone up in smoke.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Literally.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Yeah?
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Well, it's fun to finally... HE LAUGHS
0:25:14 > 0:25:17No laughter on the premises, please,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20life is a serious business.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37OK. You published with him. Right. Yeah, OK.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39I'm going... I'm going to note it down now.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44Also, on the point of attitudes,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47Theresa came across a load of photos recently
0:25:47 > 0:25:49which she's going to scan for me.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53They're not very well reproduced, they're just on photocopied paper,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57but she's going to scan them for me cos I can't identify all the stuff
0:25:57 > 0:25:59and it'd be very helpful. She doesn't know.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01And if I could send them to you, if you know some of the things,
0:26:01 > 0:26:03that would be brilliant.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06It's from the Burn showing.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20- GIRL ON SCREEN:- He said this in spite of having untangled
0:26:20 > 0:26:22thousands of hares himself
0:26:22 > 0:26:24and of being familiar with them
0:26:24 > 0:26:28over a period of 40 years as a keeper, an occupation
0:26:28 > 0:26:33which his family had followed for at least three generations before him.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37- MAN ON TV:- So do you like the Barry Flannigan sculptures of hares?
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Yes, I do a lot.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42I'm looking forward to showing Barry the work,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44the images of what people are saying about his work.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46What other things has he done?
0:26:46 > 0:26:49He did lots of more abstract sculpture,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52he did lots of work on paper.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55He did work with material, he did lino cuts.
0:26:56 > 0:26:57He worked with stone.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58One of them walked by saying,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01"Do you think that hare's thinking about Easter?"
0:27:01 > 0:27:04In any case, there's always things that people want
0:27:04 > 0:27:05to talk about in front of the work.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07Why is it you like him so much, do you think?
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Well, he has a wonderful humorous quality to him.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14He has a very sort of compassionate quality.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16He's listening to us, he wants to know what we're doing,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20what we're thinking. But his forms are so delightful,
0:27:20 > 0:27:24they're sort of ropey, they're kind of floppy.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28His ears are fantastic, they stick up out there.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32His eyes seemed to really jump up out of his head.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34But I think most of all it's sort of the idea being
0:27:34 > 0:27:39that somebody that is a hare could have kind of a human quality to him.
0:27:39 > 0:27:45- Is there anything you'd like to say to Barry?- Well, um, one of it is...
0:27:46 > 0:27:50You know, people often ask what the most favourite piece of work
0:27:50 > 0:27:54here was, when the garden was dedicated about seven years ago,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58and Hillary Clinton was First Lady at that particular time.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01And the newspaper quoted her as saying
0:28:01 > 0:28:04that the Thinker On The Rock was her very, very favourite piece.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06I hope Barry likes that.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09He's always playing with the language of, you know,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12the language of sculpture as he did with his earlies,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16these strange, very simple, beautiful early works.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20And likewise, when he moved into this more figurative production,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23you're never quite sure what his angle is and whether...
0:28:23 > 0:28:26There's a sort of tongue-in-cheek and wink. I think of him as winking.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29One evening I was living on Bleecker Street
0:28:29 > 0:28:31and I needed to post a letter to London.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33It must have been about 1:30 in the morning.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36We had a postbox on the corner and I went out to post my letter
0:28:36 > 0:28:39and there, in the middle of the night, is Barry Flanagan.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43And he was there moving back and forth, said, "Would you like a drink?
0:28:43 > 0:28:46"Do you want to have a drink?" And I said, "That would be fantastic."
0:28:46 > 0:28:50I'd only popped out, I actually had my pyjamas on under my trousers.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52I can remember, I put a jacket on over my pyjamas.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55And this is just tremendous.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59I love the shape of it, and it makes me happy.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02And it cheers me up,
0:29:02 > 0:29:05whenever I come through, just to see it.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11And you can see the kind of genuine eccentricity of this character
0:29:11 > 0:29:15as opposed to so many artists who put on a show
0:29:15 > 0:29:19of being unusual characters, he's a REALLY unusual character.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26They're not just single-line gimmicks,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29they're very sophisticated works of sculpture.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32I mean, you know, a proper art historian could talk about Rodin
0:29:32 > 0:29:36and the Balzac sculpture and could, you know, discuss this work
0:29:36 > 0:29:42in terms of that whole French, late 19th-century lineage.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45I'm just checking my bicycle is still there.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48And, erm, and look at it from here.
0:29:48 > 0:29:49Look at it from here.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55You know, against this building, against these monstrous buildings,
0:29:55 > 0:29:59you have this fantastic life and...
0:30:00 > 0:30:03..humour and wit. You know, it's witty.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26GROUP CHATTER AND LAUGH
0:30:33 > 0:30:36MAN GROWLS PLAYFULLY
0:31:19 > 0:31:21Is it very popular?
0:31:21 > 0:31:23Well, I think so, yes,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26it's the very last point before Holland.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47There. There's the rabbit.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50HE SPEAKS FRENCH TO CHILD
0:32:23 > 0:32:25Do you enjoy seeing this work here?
0:32:25 > 0:32:26Yes, it's very nice.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28It fits really into the landscape
0:32:28 > 0:32:32and it shows a really strong impression of nature.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36And it really looks like it can move every second,
0:32:36 > 0:32:41it can be gone in a second, if you see it like this.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43- Have you seen this before?- Yes. Yes.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46I mean, almost every holiday when we're here,
0:32:46 > 0:32:48we come and see the hare.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52- It's popular with the children and adults?- Yes. Yes.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54And if you had a message to give Barry Flanagan,
0:32:54 > 0:32:56what would you like to say to him?
0:32:56 > 0:33:00I would like to thank him for making this piece of art.
0:33:00 > 0:33:06It's really giving us a nice, nice impression of nature
0:33:06 > 0:33:10and it's really a beautiful thing that he made.
0:33:27 > 0:33:28It's very nice.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48His work, to me, is just so delicate and it's so human
0:39:48 > 0:39:51and it's so full of a sense of humour.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53It's just wonderfully unusual, but yet simple.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14Dubliners really do know his work.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18Especially with the pieces that were in O'Connell Street a few years ago.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27This was the very first piece of art that I saw when I came to Dublin.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34You could imagine a whole scene of these magnificent
0:40:34 > 0:40:3612 foot high hares,
0:40:36 > 0:40:41all in some wonderful pagan dance that human beings have never seen.
0:40:55 > 0:40:56You can see finger marks,
0:40:56 > 0:40:58you can see where it's been fashioned by hand.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02But when you actually really look at his wonderful little face,
0:41:02 > 0:41:04especially this little drummer,
0:41:04 > 0:41:06who really looks as if he's actually doing a dance
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and is just about to strike that drum,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11you can actually see the expression in his eyes.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06- Dain, how are you? - Good thanks, bud, yourself?
0:42:06 > 0:42:09We're going off to see the sculpture that isn't there.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Yeah, I've been pretty excited but it's not there.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17It's been a great walk so far, a great day. Beautiful weather.
0:42:17 > 0:42:22Obviously, I've watched a bit of footage that you've shown me.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25Everyone seems to be rapt with things that he's done
0:42:25 > 0:42:29and everyone's always talking about what an effect it has on them.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31I actually really enjoyed the fact that a lot of the work
0:42:31 > 0:42:34was in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
0:42:34 > 0:42:35How fantastic was that?
0:42:35 > 0:42:41Having that type of sculpture, that type of feeling
0:42:41 > 0:42:45that's coming off something that's a bit irregular,
0:42:45 > 0:42:49could create a little bit of difference,
0:42:49 > 0:42:52a little bit of... I don't know, humour.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57- And here's to Barry Flanagan, yes? - Yes, go Baz! You're a good bloke.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24Is that an Apple balancing on his foot?
0:43:24 > 0:43:27I think he's one of the greatest artists we've ever had.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35APPLAUSE
0:44:59 > 0:45:04I took him once to the Wag Club and he started dancing.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08He was dancing in a chicken dance sort of way.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10Chris Sullivan, the owner at the time, said,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13"That man is great. He can come in here any time he likes.
0:45:13 > 0:45:14"He doesn't have to be a member."
0:45:14 > 0:45:18I first met him when I first had my gallery in the King's Road.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21It was one Sunday and I was painting it up
0:45:21 > 0:45:24and Barry came by, I think with Luciana Martinez.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26- When would this be?- About 1983.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Anyway, he came in. I think he actually helped paint the walls.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34He was really dedicated in that way to help art being promoted.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38He loved all sorts of different works of art.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40I remember he told me he bought a Picabia.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44I said to Barry one day, "listen, you should have a museum."
0:45:44 > 0:45:45He said, "What shall I call it?"
0:45:45 > 0:45:48I said, "You should call it the Barry Flanagan Museum."
0:45:48 > 0:45:52About 1990, Barry said he would love to have a show in Moscow.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55We thought it would be a fantastic idea,
0:45:55 > 0:45:57because it was still the Soviet Union
0:45:57 > 0:46:02and these huge, great statues, the Stalin statues of soldiers.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04What would have been wonderful was to have Barry's hares
0:46:04 > 0:46:06next door to these soldiers.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09This was what we conceived to do.
0:46:09 > 0:46:14About 1990, this man called Misha Mehave,
0:46:14 > 0:46:19who was head of the Arts Promotion Department
0:46:19 > 0:46:23of the Artists Union of the USSR, came to London.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26I introduced him to Barry. Barry said, "Fantastic."
0:46:26 > 0:46:29Barry said, "I'll tell you what, I'll get my car out of the garage
0:46:29 > 0:46:31"and I'll pick you up."
0:46:31 > 0:46:33Misha was with his wife, Olga.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37I think we were in Soho and Barry arrived in his Rolls-Royce.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41The Rolls-Royce, the passenger side had been dented,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44so they couldn't get in the passenger side.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46They had to get in from the driver's side,
0:46:46 > 0:46:48which didn't really impress the Russians.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50If it was a brand-new Vauxhall Vectra,
0:46:50 > 0:46:52they would've been more impressed.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55The Rolls-Royce was dented in the side.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58Barry took them off to see his studio and they thought,
0:46:58 > 0:46:59"Great, let's do the show."
0:46:59 > 0:47:01But, again, in those days,
0:47:01 > 0:47:06there wasn't the sponsorship as there is now for art.
0:47:06 > 0:47:07Sadly, it never happened.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29Just like part of a machine.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31When you think of that...
0:47:35 > 0:47:38..thing in Felix Randall, the farrier -
0:47:38 > 0:47:42the Hopkins poem about how this great, strong man,
0:47:42 > 0:47:45who forges things out of metal.
0:47:45 > 0:47:51The blacksmith dies and he ends with this extraordinary line
0:47:51 > 0:47:55where he says of his death, he says,
0:47:55 > 0:48:00"How far from then forethought of, all thy more boisterous years...
0:48:00 > 0:48:03This marvellous line when he says,
0:48:03 > 0:48:05"..the grim random forge didst fettle,
0:48:05 > 0:48:09"for the great, grey drayhorse his bright and battering sandal."
0:48:13 > 0:48:17He brings tears to the eyes and they're tears of absolute delight,
0:48:17 > 0:48:18of finding...
0:48:20 > 0:48:23God! It always sound pretentious,
0:48:23 > 0:48:27but what he's doing is he's finding the living thing
0:48:27 > 0:48:29within the living creature,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32the living thing within that creature that's not living.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34It's a sort of...
0:48:34 > 0:48:37I keep coming up with this idea of the glorious machine,
0:48:37 > 0:48:40the machine that's come to some consciousness,
0:48:40 > 0:48:41that can be aware of itself.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44The hares are doing it in one way with their gymnastics.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47He's doing it in another way. He's just caught in a turn.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51His horse reduced to his absolute horseness.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53He's got an agenda we simply don't know about.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55He's not there to amuse us or to be beautiful.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59This horse has eyes no more than any horse is capable of.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05They're surveillance eyes, they're Computer Age eyes
0:49:05 > 0:49:09and these diabolical ears almost seem to be horns
0:49:09 > 0:49:12and this almost unicorn crest.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15It's like a flambeau, isn't it? Like flames on his head. He's much more.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19People think he's a sort of rather pedestrian, simple,
0:49:19 > 0:49:23straightforward horse with none of the fantastical imaginings
0:49:23 > 0:49:27of the hares, the bunnies.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29There's an awful lot more to this horse.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31I don't know, he's very moving
0:49:31 > 0:49:34but he's not moving in the sense of, oh, what a beautiful horse
0:49:34 > 0:49:36or oh, what a beautiful representation of a horse.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38He's saying something about our relationship
0:49:38 > 0:49:40and it's true of all Barry Flanagan's stuff.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43He's saying something about our relationship with animals.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56What happens in your mind when you look at this work?
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Well, I see they're two different types of animals -
0:51:01 > 0:51:04not animals, but it's like morphous animals
0:51:04 > 0:51:08that are just waiting for something and just watching.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10I like them because they're like nothing
0:51:10 > 0:51:12but they're something at the same time.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28- Si.- Si?
0:51:28 > 0:51:29Si, si.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31Ma certo.
0:51:31 > 0:51:32- Grazi, signor.- Prego.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34Do you find any humour in this?
0:51:38 > 0:51:41Maybe mat...
0:51:41 > 0:51:43maternal or maternity?
0:51:44 > 0:51:45Emotion?
0:51:47 > 0:51:49It's very different
0:51:49 > 0:51:52than I know before.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04It's a delight to see it
0:52:04 > 0:52:06and I look forward to showing Barry
0:52:06 > 0:52:10this particular part of the ever-increasing journey.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20When I heard that he'd just died,
0:53:20 > 0:53:24I was at an opening in Paris. I'm now living in Paris.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26And a woman came up to me
0:53:26 > 0:53:29and she said, "Didn't I meet you with Barry Flanagan?
0:53:29 > 0:53:31"Do I know you through Barry Flanagan?"
0:53:31 > 0:53:35Completely out of the blue. And I told her that Barry had died.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37I'd heard the news that day
0:53:37 > 0:53:41so it was a strange kind of direct connection.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44And then I realised that the bedroom I'm staying in Paris,
0:53:44 > 0:53:48that I'm living in, actually backs onto his gallery,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51so he's still a living presence. It's as though his vibration,
0:53:51 > 0:53:54you know that theory of the Big Bang, the vibration that stays with us,
0:53:54 > 0:53:57his vibration is still very much here in the world
0:53:57 > 0:54:00and you can feel the Flanagan vibration,
0:54:00 > 0:54:02perhaps standing by one of his works.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06Maybe all of his works are a kind of network of places,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09sounding stones, where you can feel his spirit
0:54:09 > 0:54:12or the reverberation of his...
0:54:12 > 0:54:15his big bang. The big bang of his vanishing.
0:54:28 > 0:54:29If I ever look back on my own life,
0:54:29 > 0:54:32it's always saying, "Truly, I wasn't kind enough."
0:54:32 > 0:54:35I never look back and say, "I was too kind to this or that person."
0:54:35 > 0:54:37I always say I was not kind enough.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39I look back mostly and say
0:54:39 > 0:54:41"I should have been kinder, should have been kinder."
0:54:41 > 0:54:43But I don't think he left such a mistake.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45He did so many things for me...
0:54:47 > 0:54:48So many things.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53He would turn up at the most unexpected places, at shows.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58Just before he got ill, in fact, I had a show in Marseille
0:54:58 > 0:55:00and he drove right through the night,
0:55:00 > 0:55:03I think there was some problem with the plane or something,
0:55:03 > 0:55:07for 24 hours, just to arrive at Marseille for the opening.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10And he would do that and never say a word,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13he'd never ask for thanks or compliments or anything,
0:55:13 > 0:55:15and then just quietly leave,
0:55:15 > 0:55:17but you must have found that with so many people.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19Countless acts of kindness
0:55:19 > 0:55:22in a very small way that he never mentioned,
0:55:22 > 0:55:25never breathed a word of those to anybody else.
0:55:25 > 0:55:30When I met him first, I was just doing installation work at that time
0:55:30 > 0:55:34and he would sometimes say to me, "If you'd start doing bronze..."
0:55:34 > 0:55:36I'd say, "I'm not ready for that."
0:55:36 > 0:55:39He had a van at the time, took me out to his studio
0:55:39 > 0:55:42and he had a pot and wax and all the materials there and tools,
0:55:42 > 0:55:45and he gave me everything that he had, his own tools
0:55:45 > 0:55:47and his own pot and his wax,
0:55:47 > 0:55:51brought them back to my studio and said, "There, you have it all now.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54"On you go, get on with it, you've no excuse. You should start."
0:55:54 > 0:55:57That's the reason I started doing bronze.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00- The question I haven't asked anyone...- Yeah?
0:56:00 > 0:56:02Is...
0:56:02 > 0:56:07Did you ever have a conversation with Barry
0:56:07 > 0:56:09about the hare?
0:56:14 > 0:56:15Yes.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32MOURNFUL ARABIC SINGING
0:58:19 > 0:58:22Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd