Phyllida Barlow is an interesting artist who came into fame later in her life (after 40 years of teaching at Slade), something I think is beneficial since you have life experience and perspectives, not just technical skill and ideas, she additionally spent 40 years as a member of staff at the Slade School of Art.
Her work is based on the urban environment, her surroundings and is often very large scale bordering on monolithic at times, this sense of ambitiousness is something I want to try to emulate however having that much space to work with is difficult. If the workshops were open/accessible then I would have wanted to experiment with metal and wood structures to act as braces or supports, these could then be taken to a location and assembled and used as anchors to build or paint on. This links to Barlow’s own desire to create a ‘ship in a bottle’ effect where the work expands within the space to fill it.
She also has a fearless mentality when it comes to her work, combining found materials with traditional and domestic ones in new and interesting ways, she seems to possess a great sense of discernment in the way she creates a piece or installation. This discernment likely comes from her massive experience as an educator, but also from confident experimentation with making and materials.
Conceptually we are similar in that neither of us would proclaim a focus or subject of our work outright, as she herself says the subject or meaning must be found through the making process, which can often be a struggle. But it is in this struggle that we as artists negotiate between material, concept and experience to create our unique perspective. From viewing this perspective a conversation can be opened between the viewer and the work that has been made.
I find Barlow to be both intimidating and inspiring, which links to the way she feels about her own process, stating that it is often on the edge of being out of control through its aggressive invasion of the space. This is something I have also struggled with in that I feel like the making is running away from me and I no longer have control of where it leads. This assertive use of chance and change is integral to Barlow, and many other artists I admire, and is by far the most important element of my work I need to focus on developing.
Barlow’s honing of her creative process over decades is inspiring and gives me comfort that I do not have to expect so much of myself so soon, as Ed says not everything you make will end up in the Tate. Remembering this lesson has been the hardest thing this year so I am pleased to have found Phyllida Barlow and her work to help guide me through.
RANDOM NOTES: repetition until you find the form you want then build on that. sculpture in a way rejects the single image in the way you walk around it, and despite its physicality sculpture constantly disappears; you walk past and its gone, then if you come back to it you have the chance to see it in a completely new way. sculpture feels more like a film and music its a moment and an experience. time is a material like gravity is a material, historical sculpture can be very grandiose and lacks intimacy. she is trying to make an approximation of something that is gone, its not about perfection I’m not a perfectionist, I might be obsessive but I’m not a perfectionist, I don’t have the patience. sculpture is about the relationship between yourself and your space and the object that is taking up your space as it were. The aggressive invasion of the space and a take over of it. The viewer only becomes relevant to her after the work is realised and ready to be displayed in a space.
interested in post minimalism arte povera, dislikes moral stance of judgementalism, dislikes pomposity or over seriousness, british proudness of its own historical position. last 10-15 year of monuments falling, twin towers saddam hussain buddhas in afganistan, BLM marches and Brighton. sculpture uses pretense, bronze that is hollow inside, constant parodoxes of sculpture. the bigger a thing is the more it must embrace its own fakery, intrigued by the notion that something can be massive but also could be made by one person, larger pieces made of smaller sections.
Ignores viewer while making work, it is a private relationship, when it comes to installation she tries to use the work and its relationship to the space to choreograph the viewer into a certain kind of looking. Views sculpture as a restless object, where everything is open to scrutiny not just where the object lands on the ground. floor empty forces viewer to examine the objects at different heights from different angles
”Think about Cave Paintings, its an age old desire to bring into dark spaces images or evidence of something that was seen or heard or experienced outside. Its about evidencing something seen or experienced, through a language that I believe is as old as the hills.”
PHYLLIDA film on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krbUNuUMVQs