Phyllida Barlow

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]

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

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.

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.

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]