Richard Deacon studied at Somerset College of Art, Taunton from 1968 to 1969, St Martin’s School of Art, London from 1969 to 1972 and the Royal College of Art, London from 1974 to 1977. He studied part time at Chelsea School of Art, London in 1978.

From 1977 to 1992 Deacon was a visiting lecturer in sculpture at various art schools, principally Central School of Art & Design, London, Chelsea School of Art, London, Sheffield City Polytechnic, Bath Academy of Art and Winchester School of Art. He was visiting lecturer at Ateliers 63, Haarlem and Amsterdam (1989-93), Guest Professor, Hochschule fur Angewande Kunst, Vienna (1995-6) and Guest lecturer, MA Programme, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem (1998). Deacon has been Visiting Professor at Chelsea School of Art and the London Institute since 1992, Advisor to Rijksakademie van Beelden Kunsten, Amsterdam, since 1996 and Professor at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris since 1999.

Deacon’s first solo show was held in 1978 at The Gallery, Brixton, London. This led to a string of solo exhibitions, both nationally and internationally, notably at the Riverside Studios (1984), Tate Gallery, London (1985), the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1998) and at Tate Gallery Liverpool (1999). He has exhibited regularly at the Lisson Gallery, London, since 1983, and at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, since 1986.

Richard Deacon won the Turner Prize in 1987 and the Robert Jakobsen Prize, Museum Wurth, Kunzelsau, Germany in 1995. In 1997 he was awarded Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, France, and in 1998 was elected a Royal Academician. Deacon was made CBE in 1999. He lives and works in London.

Recent solo exhibitions include a major retrospective at Tate Britain (2014), as well as exhibitions in New York, Copenhagen, and Singapore, among others.