Phyllida Barlow

Phyllida Barlow’s installations, sculptures, and drawings are decidedly “anti-monumental” despite their rambunctious form and color. The artist sources inexpensive everyday materials including cardboard, fabric, timber, and plaster, among other things, to intuitively recombine them. Her work is reminiscent of Arte Povera and challenges the slow, exhausting creation so often associated with traditional sculpture. Her site-specific installations often impede or direct movement through the area within which they are installed, redefining the architecture of the space. Barlow’s dense installations are often precarious, seeking balance despite their weight and instability. Like the constantly transforming urban environment she channels into her work, Barlow emphasizes ephemerality, found within perplexing terrain.

Barlow’s work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the New Museum, New York, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, England, Edinburgh Art Centre, Scotland, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, New York, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland, Royal Academy of Arts, London, and Camden Arts Centre, London, among many others. She participated in the Carnegie International and the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, the Kiev Biennale in 2012, and Art Cologne in 2011. She was commissioned for the Tate Britain Commission in 2014. Among many others, Barlow was awarded the Aachen Art Prize in 2010 and the Award for the Most Significant Contribution to the Development of Contemporary Art by the Kiev Biennale in 2012.