PHYLLIDA BARLOW

Beginning in the 1960s in London, Barlow turned her attention to forms related to barriers and boundaries, a preoccupation that persisted up until her passing in March of this year. The fence as an object, especially as imagined by Barlow, is essentially a threshold form, dividing an otherwise undifferentiated space into two zones: inside and outside. Like many fences found in the world, Barlow’s is porous, open to viewers who wish to look beyond its forbidding character. For this presentation, the fence in question seems removed from its context, or awaiting future deployment, as it is not entirely upright; rather, it leans against a large, black volume, itself curiously placed vis-à-vis the Chapel space. Brightly decorated, the fence stands in stark contrast to the closed, pure exteriority of the black object that supports it.

Barlow was unique among her contemporaries, not least for the fact that she willfully asserted her artistic identity as that of a sculptor, and not merely an artist in the general sense. So, is this contrast of colour and form in the fence and its support meant to remind one of the history of the sculptural discipline, where a base or pedestal is erected in order to showcase a more elaborate, decorated object? It is also useful to note that in its Latin origins, the word ‘object’ is likely the composite of two root words–ob and jacere–which together mean something like: that which is thrown in our way. The fence that is encountered in FENCES produces just such an experience, interrupting the normal passage through space, and is intimately linked to the memory of how fences work in the world outside the gallery as well.

The work of Phyllida Barlow remains one of the most significant in contemporary sculpture and will certainly continue to speak profoundly of the artist’s prescient appraisal of her chosen discipline. For audiences both familiar and unfamiliar with Barlow’s sculpture, FENCES offers a unique engagement, intimate, and yet perfectly consistent with the scale and surprise for which Barlow was celebrated.

Press release courtesy König Galerie. Text: Colin Lang.