#phyllida barlow

Phyllida Barlow (UK, 1944-2023)

Untitled: blockcratewedge, 2014. Dimensions: 240 x 383 x 302 cm

'GIG', inaugural exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset. Occupying the 18th-century Threshing Barn, adjoining farm buildings, outdoor spaces and one of the new galleries, Barlow's dense and exuberant sequence of installations celebrates the rejuvenation of Durslade Farm that lay derelict and unoccupied prior to its recent conversion into an arts centre.

“There are plenty of artists who don't have exhibitions. There's plenty of art that's never seen. And I think I'm intrigued by that. Making work that does not have a destination has its loneliness and its sadness about it. Many artists endure that for their entire lives, and it's heroic. The novel that never gets published, should it never have been written? Of course it should be. It's making a fantastic contribution to the culture of the moment because that individual has that huge urge to do that without any other qualifying pressures. Those are my sort of private thoughts; that I think there's a lot about the art world and the way we experience art that's fantastic, but I think there's a lot, that's not entirely spoken about or recognized, which is the unseen and the unknown and the creative act as a deeply private experience.”

Accumulation as unintentional quotation; art history as a practice of accumulation for narrative invention and canon-building. Phyllida Barlow (at Hauser & Wirth Somerset) as Marie Watt as Mummers.

Photos by author at Hauser & Wirth except: