Date and country of birth

1983, FR

About the artist

Born 1983 Nancy, Nicolas Deshayes lives and works in Dover. Graduated from BA Fine Art Chelsea College of Art and Design (2005), and MA Sculpture at the Royal College of Art (2009).

Deshayes makes sculpture from a wide range of industrial processes and materials such as cast iron, factory ceramics and vitreous enamel. Drawing on the history and temperature of these processes he explores the relationship between industrialisation and the human body, by pitting materials that are usually used for sanitation, medical or civic situations against the malleability of being human.

Selected solo exhibitions include Hot Springs, E-Werk fur Kunstrom, Luckenwalde (2019); Nicolas Deshayes at the Pleasure Gardens, Pump House Gallery, London (2018); Thames Water, Modern Art, London (2016); Images Moving Out Onto Space, Tate, St Ives (2015); Darling, Gutter., Glasgow Sculpture Studios (2015); and Crude Oil, S1 Artspace, Sheffield (2013). Selected group exhibitions include 58th October Salon, Belgrade Biennial (2020); London Art Now, curated by Norman Rosenthal, Ca'Pesaro, Venice (2019); NOI, Museoin, Bolzano (2019); Le Paradoxe de L’iceberg, FRAC Ile de France, Chateau de Rentilly, Bussy-Saint-Martin (2018); Tubologie: Nos Vies Dans Les Tubes, FRAC Grand Large, Dunkirk (2018); British Art Show 8, Inverleith House, Edinburgh (2016); Inhuman, Fridericianum, Kassel (2015); British Art Show 8, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds (2015); and Pool, Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover (2014).