In the Design House I Phyllida Barlow
Left to right:
Phyllida Barlow, Pom Pom, 2006, fabric and rope, 49 x 50 x 50 cm
Phyllida Barlow, Untitled: Broken Shelf, 2010, timber, plaster and tape, 140 x 90 x 70 cm
Phyllida Barlow, Untitled (chair), 2006, timber and paint, 115 x 53 x 44 cm
Phyllida Barlow, Untitled (chair), 2006, timber and paint, 115 x 53 x 44 cm
An installation of work by Phyllida Barlow is now available to view in our Design House, ranging from 2006 to 2015.
Phyllida Barlow’s practice has been punctuated by continuous experimentation and play. Tactile and seemingly precarious sculpture is made from inexpensive, mass-produced materials like cardboard, fabric, paper, glue, plastic, wood and rubber. The result augments our sense of colour and space, challenging her audience to explore their understanding of the nature and role of the sculptural object in contemporary culture.
In the centre of the room, Barlow’s Untitled: Broken Shelf (2010) rolls over itself, a mass of fluorescent reds, yellows and oranges. It is part of a large interrelated series of works collectively entitled Swamp, which made their debut in 2010 at her first studio; V22 on Ashwin Street.
Phyllida Barlow
Untitled: Broken Shelf, 2010
Timber, plaster, tape
140 x 90 x 70 cm
55 ⅛ x 35 ⅖ x 27 ½ in.
Enquire
I decided to concentrate my energy on as intense a tactile experience as I could possibly get to, so I worked in the dark. I set up the materials so they were very close at hand, and the point of that was that for me sculpture is not about image – of course, image comes into it – but about the sensation of being there with an object, and your own time, the time needed to walk around an object, in relationship to the time of the object.
- Phyllida Barlow, Objects for… And Other Things, 2003
Phyllida Barlow
untitled: lookoutpost(small), 2015
Cement, hessian scrim, PVA, paint, plaster, plywood, polystyrene, polyurethane foam, spray paint, timber
75 x 62 x 50 cm
29 ½ x 24 ⅜ x 19 ⅝ in.
Enquire
Dame Phyllida Barlow DBE RA was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1944. After studying at Chelsea School of Art from 1960 to 1963, she graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art in 1966. Between 1988 and 2009, Barlow taught at the Slade, and in 2011 was elected a Royal Academician. In 2014, she received the Tate Britain Commission for the Duveen Gallery, and in 2017 represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale with her installation folly. Phyllida Barlow was made a DBE in 2021.
Phyllida Barlow’s work has been exhibited extensively in museums and institutions worldwide. Recent solo shows include Phyllida Barlow: PRANK, Public Art Fund, City Hall Park, New York, USA (2023); Phyllida Barlow, Eleven Columns at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada (2023); BREACH, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany (2022); and cul-de-sac at The Royal Academy of Arts, London (2019).
Phyllida Barlow, an exhibition at the New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park, 2007.
The New Art Centre has shown Phyllida Barlow’s work for many years, following her first exhibition in the sculpture park in 2007. The park and galleries were adorned with large-scale work, and the emphasis on colour and surface quality situated these pieces somewhere between painting and sculpture.
In 2022, at the opening of an exhibition of work by Matt Rugg at Roche Court, Phyllida Barlow gave a touching opening speech. We miss her greatly.