Bruce McLean

(Scottish, born 1944)

Bruce McLean is a contemporary Scottish artist. Working across performance, sculpture, photography, and painting, he consistently challenges art world hierarchies using sharp satire and subtle subversions. McLean’s work employs the formal language and aesthetics of work he parodies, thereby confusing traditional understands of authenticity, skill, and sincerity for his audience. In one of his most iconic early works, Pose Work for Pliths 3 (1971), the artist enacted a series of increasingly playful poses atop simple white pedestals, thereby elevating and satirizing the traditional display of sculptural objects. “Pose Work for Plinths was just one of many pieces,” McLean remarked, “but it seems to have become my hit record, and it was instrumental in helping me move on to other things. I got very interested in architecture and in how you behave in different spaces.” Born in 1944 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, he studied at the Glasgow School of Art then under Anthony Caro and Phillip King at St. Martin’s School of Art in London. His works are in the collections of the Tate Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Edinburgh, among others. McLean lives and works in London, United Kingdom.

Bruce McLean Artworks

Bruce McLean (571 results)
Study towards the object of exercise, 1980

Bruce McLean

Study towards the object of exercise, 1980

Sale Date: February 7, 2007

Auction Closed

Yucca gloriosa, 1980

Bruce McLean

Yucca gloriosa, 1980

Sale Date: February 7, 2007

Auction Closed

Putting on the angst, 1982

Bruce McLean

Putting on the angst, 1982

Sale Date: December 2, 2006

Auction Closed

Ballet Butch

Bruce McLean

Ballet Butch

Sale Date: October 28, 2006

Auction Closed

Mel Gooding, Dream Work (bk w/title, text..., 1985

Bruce McLean

Mel Gooding, Dream Work (bk w/title, text..., 1985

Sale Date: October 25, 2006

Auction Closed

Bruce on knee (+ 2 others; 3 works)

Bruce McLean

Bruce on knee (+ 2 others; 3 works)

Sale Date: October 2, 2006

Auction Closed

Art bar (study), 1988

Bruce McLean

Art bar (study), 1988

Sale Date: July 12, 2006

Auction Closed

Proposals for a poster, 1988

Bruce McLean

Proposals for a poster, 1988

Sale Date: July 12, 2006

Auction Closed

Proposals for large roundels, 1988

Bruce McLean

Proposals for large roundels, 1988

Sale Date: July 12, 2006

Auction Closed

Three designs, 1989

Bruce McLean

Three designs, 1989

Sale Date: July 12, 2006

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1986

Bruce McLean

Untitled, 1986

Sale Date: June 17, 2006

Auction Closed

Ambre solaire II, 1982

Bruce McLean

Ambre solaire II, 1982

Sale Date: May 31, 2006

Auction Closed

Yucca gloriosa, 1980

Bruce McLean

Yucca gloriosa, 1980

Sale Date: May 25, 2006

Auction Closed

Study towards the object of exercise, 1980

Bruce McLean

Study towards the object of exercise, 1980

Sale Date: May 25, 2006

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1984

Bruce McLean

Untitled, 1984

Sale Date: April 26, 2006

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1984

Bruce McLean

Untitled, 1984

Sale Date: April 26, 2006

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1984

Bruce McLean

Untitled, 1984

Sale Date: April 26, 2006

Auction Closed

Abstract composition, 1980

Bruce McLean

Abstract composition, 1980

Sale Date: April 26, 2006

Auction Closed

Abstract composition, 1980

Bruce McLean

Abstract composition, 1980

Sale Date: April 26, 2006

Auction Closed

Ballet butch, 1980–1989

Bruce McLean

Ballet butch, 1980–1989

Sale Date: March 31, 2006

Auction Closed

Black and blue, 1989

Bruce McLean

Black and blue, 1989

Sale Date: October 5, 2005

Auction Closed

The swimming pool

Bruce McLean

The swimming pool

Sale Date: September 14, 2005

Auction Closed

Towards a performance: Good manners or physical...

Bruce McLean

Towards a performance: Good manners or physical...

Sale Date: August 25, 2005

Auction Closed

Dejeuner sur l'Herbe, 1980

Bruce McLean

Dejeuner sur l'Herbe, 1980

Sale Date: August 25, 2005

Auction Closed