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Phyllida Barlow

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Phyllida Barlow
Born1944
NationalityBritish
EducationChelsea College of Art, Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London
Known forSculpture

Phyllida Barlow CBE RA (born 1944)[1] is a British artist. Barlow studied at Chelsea College of Art (1960–63) and the Slade School of Art (1963–66).[2] After joining the staff in the late 1960s, Barlow taught at the Slade School of Art for more than forty years before retiring in 2009 and is now Emerita Professor of Fine Art. Phyllida Barlow has had an important influence on younger generations of artists through her work and long teaching career in London art schools. At the Slade School of Fine Art, her students included Turner Prize-winning and nominated artists Rachel Whiteread and Angela de la Cruz.[3] In 2011 Barlow became a Royal Academician and in 2015 she was made a CBE for her services to the arts in the Queen's New Year Honours.[4] In 2017, Barlow represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale.[5]

Installation view, 'Phyllida Barlow. RIG', Hauser & Wirth, London, England, 2011

Early life and education

Although born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England in 1944 (as her psychiatrist father Erasmus Darwin Barlow, a great-grandson of Charles Darwin, was stationed there at the time), Barlow was brought up in a London recovering from the second world war.[6] She studied at Chelsea College of Art (1960–63) under the tutelage of George Fullard who was to influence Barlow's perception of what sculpture can be. "Fullard, among others, was able to impart that the act of making was in itself an adventure. A sculpture that falls over or breaks is just as exciting as one that reveals itself perfectly formed. All the acts of making in the world are there to be plundered and contain within themselves the potential to be transferred to the studio and adapted."[7]

Whilst studying at Chelsea, Barlow met her husband, the artist and writer Fabian Benedict Peake, the son of Mervyn Peake, author of Gormenghast. She later attended the Slade School of Fine Art from 1963 to 1966 to further study sculpture. Described by The Independent as "a British art dynasty" Barlow and her husband have five children together, including the artists Eddie Peake and Florence Peake.[8]

Career

After graduating from Slade School of Art in 1966, Barlow began a forty year long career as a teacher in various institutions, starting with a part time teaching position in Sculpture at the former West of England College of Art, now known as the University of the West of England, Bristol.[9] While here, she learned traditional techniques of sculpture and discovered and affinity for the malleability of clay. Barlow found an interest in everyday, convenient materials like cardboard, polystyrene, scrim, and cement[10] and how she could create abstracted pieces of work that placed a sense of elevated meaning to them. Forming an environment in which her viewers can reflect on the work and explore the material and processes used to create it was one of her main motivations in her practice. In 2004 she was appointed Professor of Fine Art and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Slade School of Art before retiring from teaching in 2009 at the age of 65, deciding to focus on her own art.[11][12]

'Upturnedhouse 2' (2012) by Phyllida Barlow, Timber, plywood, cement, polystyrene, polyfiller, paint and varnish

Work

Dock by Phyllida Barlow at Tate Britain in 2014

Best known for her colossal sculptural projects, Barlow uses "a distinctive vocabulary of inexpensive materials such as plywood, cardboard, plaster, cement, fabric and paint" to create striking sculptures.[13] Drawing on memories of familiar objects from her surroundings, Barlow's practice is grounded in an anti-monumental tradition characterised by her physical experience of handling materials, which she transforms through processes of layering, accumulation and juxtaposition.[14] "Obtrusive and invasive, Barlow's large-scale sculptural objects are frequently arranged in complex installations in which mass and volume seem to be at odds with the space around them. Their role is restless and unpredictable: they block, interrupt, intervene, straddle and perch, both dictating and challenging the experience of viewing."[15] Her constructions are often crudely painted in industrial or synthetic colours, resulting in abstract, seemingly unstable forms.

Maybe I don't think enough about beauty in my work because I'm so curious about other qualities, abstract qualities of time, weight, balance, rhythm; collapse and fatigue versus the more upright dynamic notions of maybe posture ... the state that something might be in. Is it growing or shrinking, is it going up or down, is it folding or unfolding? – Phyllida Barlow, The Guardian 2016.[16]

Barlow was also a prolific painter, yet even in this field she recognized they were "sculptural drawings".[17] She painted as part of her curriculum at the Chelsea College of Arts - where she was encouraged to practice by artist and sculptor Henry Moore - and carried on doing so throughout her life as an artist, accruing a vast archive of work.[18]

She also has featured in the following publications: Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947 – 2016 by Paul Schimmel and Jenni Sorkin , Phyllida Barlow: Fifty Years of Drawings by Sara Harrison, and Phyllida Barlow: Sculpture 1963 – 2015 by Fiona Bradley.[citation needed]

Solo Exhibitions

Barlow's work has been presented in solo exhibitions around the world. In 2014, Barlow was commissioned to create new work for the Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain, London, England.[19]

After being awarded the Aachener Kunstpreis in 2012, Barlow was commissioned to do a solo exhibition for the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Germany.[20] The exhibition Brink featured seven expansive sculptures creating a "stage-like arena" for her fictive city.[21]

From 3 December 2013 to 24 February 2014, Barlow presented a solo exhibition entitled HOARD at The Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach. It was the Norton’s third exhibition of RAW - Recognition of Art by Women - made possible by the Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund/MLDauray Arts Institute.[citation needed]

In 2016, Barlow presented a solo exhibition of new work at the Kunsthalle Zurich. Barlow is one of four artists to be nominated for the inaugural Hepworth prize, the UK's first prize for sculpture, and her work will be on display at the Hepworth Wakefield from October 2016.[22]

For the 2017 Venice Biennale, Barlow unveiled her powerfully industrial and bulbous Folly series, which took over both a sanitised indoor space and the idyllic Venetian outdoors.[23] Barlow initially planned for her installation of 41 'baubles' to be hanging from planks that jutted from facade of the pavilion but this vision had to be altered due to expense; they were ultimately displayed in a way that resembled lollipops.[24] Graham Sheffield, the Director Arts at the British Council at the time, wrote that Barlow was selected for her "challenging and imposing sculptures" which unsurprisingly commanded a distinct and powerful presence at the 57th Biennale.[25]

References

  1. ^ Phaidon Editors (2019). Great women artists. Phaidon Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0714878775. {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ "Townsend Lecture 2014: Phyllida Barlow". Slade School of Fine Art.
  3. ^ "10 minutes with Phyllida Barlow". Royal Academy.
  4. ^ "Sculptor Phyllida Barlow gets CBE for 'services to art'". The Telegraph.
  5. ^ "Phyllida Barlow to represent Britain at Venice Biennale". BBC News.
  6. ^ Higgins, Charlotte (9 May 2017). "Bish-bash-bosh: how Phyllida Barlow conquered the art world at 73". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  7. ^ "Phyllida Barlow. Learning Experience". Frieze.
  8. ^ Brown, Mark. "Leaping around naked in clay, painting her girlfriend's vulva... Meet Florence Peake – 'the Lena Dunham of art'",The Independent 4 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2019
  9. ^ Barlow, Phyllida (2015). Phyllida Barlow : sculpture, 1963-2015. Bradley, Fiona,, Fruitmarket Gallery. Edinburgh. p. 231. ISBN 9783775740111. OCLC 920454234.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Great women artists. Morrill, Rebecca,, Wright, Karen, 1950 November 15-, Elderton, Louisa. London. 2 October 2019. ISBN 978-0-7148-7877-5. OCLC 1099690505.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ Barlow, Phyllida (2015). Phyllida Barlow : sculpture, 1963-2015. Bradley, Fiona,, Fruitmarket Gallery. Edinburgh. p. 231. ISBN 9783775740111. OCLC 920454234.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ Higgins, Charlotte (9 May 2017). "Bish-bash-bosh: how Phyllida Barlow conquered the art world at 73". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  13. ^ "Phyllida Barlow to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale 2017". British Council.
  14. ^ "Artist Rooms: Phyllida Barlow". Tate.
  15. ^ "Phyllida Barlow: dock". Tate.
  16. ^ "Phyllida Barlow: an artistic outsider who has finally come inside". The Guardian.
  17. ^ Barlow, Phyllida. (2014). Phyllida Barlow : fifty years of drawings. Harrison, Sara., Obrist, Hans Ulrich., Hauser & Wirth London. (1st ed.). London: Hauser & Wirth. p. 217. ISBN 9783037643662. OCLC 881026636.
  18. ^ Barlow, Phyllida. (2014). Phyllida Barlow : fifty years of drawings. Harrison, Sara., Obrist, Hans Ulrich., Hauser & Wirth London. (1st ed.). London: Hauser & Wirth. p. 7. ISBN 9783037643662. OCLC 881026636.
  19. ^ Barlow, Phyllida. (2014). Phyllida Barlow : fifty years of drawings. Harrison, Sara., Obrist, Hans Ulrich., Hauser & Wirth London. (1st ed.). London: Hauser & Wirth. p. 237. ISBN 9783037643662. OCLC 881026636.
  20. ^ Barlow, Phyllida (2013). Brink. Franzen, Brigitte,, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst. Aachen. p. 4. ISBN 9783863352721. OCLC 822018056.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  21. ^ Barlow, Phyllida (2013). Brink. Franzen, Brigitte,, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst. Aachen. p. 7. ISBN 9783863352721. OCLC 822018056.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  22. ^ "The Hepworth Prize for Sculpture". The Hepworth Wakefield.
  23. ^ Barlow, Phyllida (2017). Folly. British Council,, Biennale di Venezia (57th : 2017 : Venice, Italy). London, UK. pp. 44–117. ISBN 9781911164678. OCLC 993490492.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  24. ^ Higgins, Charlotte (9 May 2017). "Bish-bash-bosh: how Phyllida Barlow conquered the art world at 73". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  25. ^ Barlow, Phyllida (2017). Folly. British Council,, Biennale di Venezia (57th : 2017 : Venice, Italy). London, UK. p. 6. ISBN 9781911164678. OCLC 993490492.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)