Sir Anthony Caro 1924-2013

Anthony Caro – well, actually it's Sir Anthony Caro – has been making monumental sculptures for the past six decades. During a career that's spanned the changing landscape of sculptural practice, his works have been exhibited in major galleries, but also outside in Canary Wharf and in the more rural setting of Chatsworth House.

His most recent ‘Park Avenue Series', currently on view at Gagosian Britannia Street, came out of an unsuccessful public art commission in the Big Apple. After being given the key to the city of New York back in the 1980s, Caro was asked if he would create a sculpture for the city. Considerate of the Park Avenue site, he proposed an exceptionally long sculpture that, running for a good few blocks, could be appreciated from both a moving car or at street level. Unfortunately the ambitious proposal proved to be too expensive and the funds couldn’t be raised. As Caro put it: ‘I was just working on fundraising and not on the sculpture. So I said, “If I can’t raise the funds by September I’m going to chuck this.” So I chucked it.’

Here he talks about his career working with big pieces of metal and not wanting to take anything for granted.