Born 1944, Glasgow.

Bruce McLean studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1961-63 before going to join the celebrated post-graduate sculpture course at St Martin's School of Art from 1963-66. This department viewed time as an element within sculpture and other graduates include Richard Long, Hamish Fulton and Gilbert and George.

Bruce McLean introduced performance and time based elements into his work; the film Hole in the Sea shown at the Mead Gallery in 2001 shows the tide coming in around a perspex tube which forms a black disc, a hole in the sea. His first solo exhibition in London was at the Situation Gallery in 1971 and was called There's a Sculpture on My Shoulder. McLean is concerned to debunk pretentiousness and for a time, focused his activity on Nice Style: The World's First Pose Band.

Major solo exhibitions in the 1980s include Kunsthalle Basel and the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. He performed at the opening of Tate Liverpool in 1988 and in 1989 designed the set and costumes for the Ballet Rambert's Soldat.

McLean's work is held by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and the Arts Council in London. His publicly sited work includes the bar at Arnolfini.

Steel Open-work Screen