We are delighted to welcome internationally acclaimed artist and Slade alumnus Sir Christopher Le Brun PPRA in conversation with UCL’s President & Provost, Dr Michael Spence AC, welcomed by Slade Director, Professor Kieren Reed and introduced by Jo Volley.

The event will take place at the  Object-Based Learning Laboratory, Wilkins Building, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

Free, book via Eventbrite

Sir Christopher Le Brun

Christopher Le Brun is one of the leading British painters of his generation, celebrated internationally since the 1980s, making both figurative and abstract work in painting, sculpture and print. He was an instrumental public figure in his role as President of the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2011 to 2019. He was awarded a Knighthood for services to the Arts in the 2021 New Year Honours. At the beginning of 2023, further two of his major pieces were added to institutional collections of Tate Gallery in London and the Museum of Contemporary Art & Urban Planning (MoCAUP) in Shenzhen.

His recent solo exhibitions have been held at Albertz Benda, New York, USA (2023); Lisson Gallery, London, UK (2022); the Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China (2021); Albertz Benda, New York, USA (2020); Lisson Gallery, Shanghai, China (2019); Lisson Gallery, London, UK (2018).

His work is in many museum collections including Tate Gallery, London, UK; Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; Museum of Contemporary Art & Urban Planning (MoCAUP), Shenzhen, China; the British Museum, London, UK; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland; The Whitworth, Manchester, UK; Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China, and Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA.

Dr Michael Spence took up his post as President & Provost of UCL on 11 January 2021. Prior to this he was Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sydney, which under his leadership rose to first in Australia and fourth in the world for graduate employability. He was also responsible for the largest philanthropic campaign in Australian history, raising a record one billion Australian dollars.

Dr Spence is recognised internationally as a leader in the field of intellectual property theory and holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he headed Oxford’s Law faculty and Social Sciences division. An alumnus of the University of Sydney, he has first degrees in English, Italian and Law, and graduate training in theology, Chinese and Korean.

In 2017, he was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours for service to leadership of the tertiary education sector, to the advancement of equitable access to educational opportunities, to developing programs focused on multidisciplinary research, and to the Anglican Church of Australia. Dr Spence is an ordained Minister in the Anglican Church.

Professor Kieren Reed is Director of the Slade School of Fine Art. He took up his post in September 2018. Prior to this he was Director of Undergraduate Studies and Head of Undergraduate Sculpture.

His art research encompasses sculpture, public art, performance and installation, technology - from studies in form to the production of architectural structures. His art is most often linked to a process, place, site or a consideration of a space or situation. Through investigations that challenge making, materials, functionality, concepts of collaboration, and methodologies of de-authoring, he creates generous artworks that further new knowledge in socially engaged and participation art practices.

Kieren Reed is also a co-founder of UCL Art Futures, which brings together UCL academics and the creative industries to create new partnerships, business opportunities, and research.

Jo Volley is Deputy Director (Projects) at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, coordinator of the Material Research Project & Network and the Material Museum. She studied at the Slade from 1972-77 and has taught there since 1986. Her four most recently funded research projects include: The Pigment Timeline Project, From Pigments to Solar Power, Colour & Emotion Toolkit, The Pigment Farm and she is co-writing an Art School Guide to Material Practice Vol. I: Supports, Surfaces and Grounds. In 2019 she established and directed Colour & Poetry: A Symposium to celebrate both International Colour Day and World Poetry Day and edits its annual publication Colour & Poetry. In 2020, along with Dr Ruth Siddall, she established World Pigment Day. In 2021 she was commissioned to create a wall painting, Van Gogh’s Colour Timeline, for the Van Gogh House, London that runs through two-levels of the house. She is currently part of the part of the ION-DRI public art programme and commissioned to develop a new work for the public spaces in the building exploring the topic of colour and dementia.