Ian Breakwell

Ian Breakwell (26 May 1943 – 14 October 2005) was a British artist, active as a diarist, a draughtsman, a film-maker, a painter, a photographer and a print-maker.

Life

Breakwell was born on 26 May 1943 in Long Eaton, in Derbyshire. From 1961 to 1965 he attended the Derby College of Art, and then moved to London.

Work

Breakwell was part of the Artist Placement Group in the 1970s, and was for a time placed in the Department of Health and Social Security. He was sent to work in the psychiatric hospitals of Broadmoor in Berkshire and Rampton in Nottinghamshire; his film The Institution, made in 1978 with Kevin Coyne, is based on these experiences.

He died in London on 14 October 2005.

The Tate Archive holds a collection of his personal papers, correspondence, photographs and notebooks including documentation of 'The Institution' performances with Kevin Coyne.

Exhibitions

Breakwell's principal exhibitions include: Evidence. Greenwich Theatre Art Gallery, London, 1973 Continuous Diary (travelling exhibition). Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, 1977 Circus. Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, 1978 120 Days. Tate Gallery, London, 1982 Echoes. Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1988 Free Range, Survey of Ian Breakwell's publications 1964-1993 (travelling exhibition). Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1993 Drawing across Boundaries. Loughborough University School of Art and Design, 1998 Textworks 1966-1999. Loughborough University Gallery, 1999 The Other Side. The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, 2002 Ian Breakwell: the Elusive State of Happiness (retrospective). Quad Gallery, Derby, 2010 Ian Breakwell: Keep Things As They Are (retrospective). De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, 6 October 2012 – 13 January 2013.