21 January 2010 at 6.30pm
Spin: Glasgow visit the studio of internationally acclaimed Scottish artist Claire Barclay as she prepares to exhibit new work with the Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art and the prestigious Whitechapel Gallery, London.
This rare opportunity to discuss and gain insight into Barclay’s practice as she prepares and develops work for exhibition. Claire Barclay is a known for large-scale installations consisting of collections of sculptural objects brought together into precisely plotted relationships. Her work combines familiar materials such as leather, earth, fabric, wool, straw and metals, generating intensely tactile environments. Her work has been installed in a variety of locations, including a Venetian palazzo, a former fireboat station and a hay barn. Nearly all of her installations have only been exhibited once.
Born in Paisley and based in Glasgow, Barclay has shown her work around the world in solo and group exhibitions. Her recent exhibitions include Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg; The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Camden Arts Centre, London; Washington Garcia Gallery, Glasgow; Tate Britain, London; Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee; Moderna Museet, Stockholm. She represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2003 and is represented by Doggerfisher Gallery, Edinburgh, and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.
26 February 2009 at 6.15pm
This month we will be visiting The Fruitmarket Gallery to see a solo exhibition of work by Scottish artist Claire Barclay, known for work which takes the form of highly crafted sculptural objects brought together into precisely plotted relationships. Featuring newly commissioned work shown in the context of objects made over the course of her career, the exhibition offers an opportunity to trace the development of the artist’s singular sculptural language.
Barclay encourages us to engage with her work on a profoundly instinctual level. We think we recognise familiar objects, like keys, pots or combs, but all have been shaped in such a way as to prevent any practical use. Tables defy gravity to stand on three legs, while chairs have neither a seat nor a back. Unable to attribute meaning through function, we are led instead on an associative journey triggered by memory and the imagination that draws on the sensory and the subconscious as well as the demands of reason.
Biography: Claire Barclay was born in 1968 in Paisley and currently lives and works in Glasgow. She graduated from the Environmental Art and Sculpture Course at Glasgow School of Art in 1990 and completed an MFA in Glasgow in 1993. In 2003, she represented Scotland at the Venice Bienniale alongside Simon Starling and Jim Lambie. She is represented by doggerfisher, Edinburgh.
