Phyllida Barlow

For almost 60 years, the esteemed British sculptor Phyllida Barlow (1944-2023) took inspiration from her surroundings to create striking and playful installations. She created large-scale yet anti-monumental sculptures from inexpensive, low-grade materials such as cardboard, fabric, plywood, polystyrene, scrim, plaster and cement. These constructions were often painted in industrial or vibrant colours, the seams of their construction left at times visible, revealing the means of their making.

In 2009, Barlow retired after 40 years of teaching at London’s Slade School of Art. She had no commercial representation and many of her pre 2010’s art works no longer exist, because she would break up sculptures to re-use the materials or throw them away. In 2010, she had a her ‘breakout’ exhibition at London’s Studio Voltaire – the centre piece of which was Untitled (Breakwaters), 2010. Made of Wood, plaster, cement and paint, the two imposing structures are akin to barriers or sea groynes that dominate the space, forcing the viewer to consider their own relationship to the object, which itself seems to be imbued with some agency and subjectivity.

“I think a lot of us who spent our careers teaching have managed to keep our studios open. We’re jobbing artists. There’s nothing glamorous about it. There’s just an urge inside me to do art, and it just happens that it’s a very physical activity. There’s no logic to it. I can’t offer any explanation, other than that humans have these urges.”

After Studio Voltaire she had a two person show at the Serpentine Gallery (2010), undertook the Duveen Commission at Tate Britain (2014) and, in 2017, represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale. She was awarded a CBE in 2015. She and her Estate are represented by Hauser & Wirth.