Bob Law (b.1934, Brentford, Middlesex, UK – d.2004, Penzance, Cornwall, UK) was a pioneering British artist whose practice spanned drawing, painting, and sculpture. Considered one of the founders of British Minimalism, Law developed a distinct visual language that merged abstraction with an enduring connection to the English landscape. Unlike his American minimalist contemporaries, his work was deeply rooted in personal experience and an esoteric engagement with philosophy, mysticism, and alchemy. His early Field Drawings (1950s–60s), produced while lying in the Cornish landscape of St Ives, marked the beginning of his lifelong exploration of form, reduction, and perception. These elemental works laid the foundation for his later black paintings — radical monochromes that subtly shift in tone from blue to violet, defying the limits of photographic reproduction and material simplicity.
In the 1970s, Law gained prominence with works such as Mister Paranoia IV 20.11.70 (No. 95) and Drawing (Black Scribble) 10.2.72, which distilled his earlier experiments into compositions that were reductive yet rich with meaning. A return to sculpture in the 1980s saw him working in cast iron, bronze, and painted wood, creating anthropomorphic forms such as Young Obelisk (1981) and Reclining Obelisk (1984). These works expanded his exploration of space, form, and human presence. In the 1990s, Law revisited colour through his Castle Paintings series, followed by a renewed engagement with bronze in his final years.
Law’s career was championed early on by critic Lawrence Alloway, leading to his inclusion in Two Young British Painters, ICA, London (1960), and subsequent solo exhibitions at Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf (1970); Lisson Gallery, London (1971); Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1974); and Whitechapel Gallery, London (1978). His work has since featured in numerous group exhibitions, including A House of Leaves, DRAF, London (2013); Abstract Drawing, Drawing Room, London (2014); and Artists and Poets, Secession, Vienna (2015). Law’s work is held in major public and private collections worldwide, including Tate, London; the British Museum, London; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Museum Sztuki, Łódź; and the Panza Collection, Varese.
