Born in 1958, Andrew Sabin studied at Chelsea College of Art between 1979 and 1983, where he later taught as a Senior Lecturer from 1997 to 2006. His early passion was pottery, studying under the Malaysian potter Po Chap Yeap. Between 1976 and 1978 he traded as a potter in London and in Europe before turning his study to sculpture. His tutors included Richard Deacon, Nick Pope, Gerard Wilson, Shelagh Cluett, Anthony Gormley and Anish Kapoor. Between 1984 and 1990, he showed for James Lingwood in Plymouth, for Richard Deacon in Manchester and at Angela Flowers Gallery, and had two solo shows in 1989 and 1990 at the Salama-Caro Gallery, Cork Street, London.
In 1990, he made his first installation for Emma Dexter at the Chisenhale Gallery as part of a 3-part exhibition series, which included Rachel Whiteread's Ghost. In 1994, he was invited by Robert Hopper to install The Sea of Sun in the inaugural exhibition of European sculpture at the Henry Moore Institute alongside Jaume Plensa, Vittorio Messina and Edward Allington. The Sea of Sun went on to form an important part of William Ewing's ‘Century of the Body’ exhibitions at the Musée de l’Elysee in Lausanne and Culturgest in Lisbon. In 1997 he made the final part of his trilogy of installations, The Open Sea, at the Henry Moore Studio in Halifax, as part of a programme that included projects by Giuseppe Penone, Richard Long, Alison Wilding, Lawrence Weiner, James Turrell and Magdelena Jetelova.
From 1997, his attention was focused predominantly on the public realm: installing the C-bin project on the coast of France, making the History Wall for the Town Centre in Whitstable, Square- and Round Bridge for Ravensbury Park and The Calibrated Ramp in Bracknell. Between 2006 and 2010 he made The Coldstones Cut in the Yorkshire Dales. Described by The Guardian as "The giant of the Dales and the best public artwork of the year", it won the Marsh Award for Public Sculpture in 2011. That same year, he was commissioned by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to replace Henry Moore's Two Piece Reclining Figure No.1 on the site of the former Chelsea School of Art in Manresa Road, Chelsea. His bronze sculpture Painting and Sculpture was installed in 2013.
Simultaneous to his work in the public realm, Sabin continued a rigorous studio practice. He produced work for Penelope Curtis for the 'Material Evidence' show at Cubitt Street, was included in 'Other Criteria' (2004) at Henry Moore Institute, an exhibition taking stock of “one hundred years of British sculpture”, and showed in ‘Over Under’ (2007) with Keith Wilson and Franz West and ‘Where are we Now?’ (2018) with Michael Pennie at Canary Wharf, London. In 2024, he participated in ‘These Mad Hybrids’, with John Hoyland, Olivia Bax, Phyllida Barlow and others at Royal West of England Academy, Bristol; ‘Material Matters’ at Elysium Gallery, Swansea; and ‘Sculpture in Pilane’, at the Pilane Heritage Museum in Sweden. His recent solo shows include ‘Colouring the Void’ at New Arts Centre in Salisbury (2016) and ‘Two Volcanos’ at Brook Bennington in London (2024).
Andrew Sabin is the recipient of many awards from organisations, including the Arts Council England, The Henry Moore Trust, Arts and Business, SEEDA, RSA art for architecture award, The Aggregates Levy, The Bridgehouse Trust, The Lorne Award, The Marsh Award, ABSA and several awards from The British Council. He taught widely as a regular visiting lecturer at Chelsea College of Art and Design, Middlesex University, Portsmouth Polytechnic, Bath School of Art and Camberwell School of Art, before taking a post as a Senior lecturer at Chelsea. In 2006, he left teaching to focus on his practice.
Andrew Sabin lives and works in West Sussex alongside his wife, the sculptor Laura Ford. Together they run the educational organisation Matt Black Barn.