Artist profile

Richard Wilson RA was born in London in 1953. The son of an artist and an art teacher, Wilson inherited a talent for working with his hands and eventually went on to study at Hornsey College of Art in 1971 where he was able to find freedom of expression through sculpture.

Wilson has been twice nominated for the Turner Prize and was awarded the prestigious DAAD residency in Berlin 1992 - 1993. He was one of a select number of artists invited to create a major public work for the Millennium Dome and the only British artist invited to participate in Japan’s Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial in 2000.

Wilson became a Royal Academician in 2006 and recently completed serving a four-year honorary professorship of sculpture at the RA Schools. He also coordinated the RA's Summer Exhibition 2016 which showcased 'unpredictable, stimulating and startling' works from emerging artists, recognisable names and speciall invited artistic duos.

Recent work includes Slipstream, an 80 metre long installed in the rebuild Terminal 2 building at Heathrow Airport in 2014. Monumental in ambition and size - it is the longest piece of permanent art in Europe - Slipstream captures the exhilarating potential of flight and traces the dramatic path of a stunt plane, recreated in this extraordinary aluminium structure.

Photo: Anthony Charlton