SCHOONY

Schoony is a British sculptor whose practice uses hyper-realistic, figurative work to examine war, mortality, and contemporary society.
He was born in 1974, and he continues to live and work in the United Kingdom. He entered cinematic special effects at the age of fifteen and went on to work on more than 100 films over 25 years as a prosthetics and makeup artist, with credits including Harry Potter, Gladiator, and Where the Wild Things Are, as well as Saving Private Ryan and Star Wars. Prosthetics is a family trade, practised by his father and brother as well, and through it he mastered casting and moulding, becoming expert at producing life-size models of both humans and monsters. He later moved into a career as an artist to pursue his passion for life-cast sculpture.
Schoony made his debut on the London art scene in 2008 at Mutate Britain’s “One Foot in the Grove,” widely regarded as one of the most pioneering street art exhibitions of its time, presenting an extensive installation of his hyper-realistic plastic casts. His most recognised motif is a shirtless boy soldier in an oversized military helmet. He made the original standing sculpture of Boy Soldier in 2008.
His sculptures are produced through detailed life-casting techniques in a range of materials, including plastic, bronze, and gold. Combining commercialism, violence, and kitsch, his imagery explores how detached contemporary Western society has become from warfare. He pairs current technologies with traditional methods and continues to push the boundaries of his discipline, as seen in works such as Brain Glitch (2021), a 3D-printed, light-sensitive resin brain mounted on wood with an acrylic rod.
Schoony has exhibited widely across Europe and the United States and has been represented by Guy Hepner Gallery in New York and Unit Gallery in London. His work has received critical attention from The Times, The Independent, and Artnet News. His work is currently offered through Maddox Gallery, and he was included in a Christie’s London live-streamed auction in December 2022. His work is held in private collections including those of Benedict Cumberbatch, Rita Ora, and Celia Sawyer; Cumberbatch met the artist on the set of the 2013 short film Little Favour, in which Boy Soldier also featured, and later acquired a wall-panel version of the sculpture.