STREET. Untitled: broken shelf
Phyllida Barlow (2010)
Materials: pieces of lumber, plaster, gauze, and fabric. Dimensions: 85 × 300 × 75 cm.
b. 1944 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom; d. 2023 in London, United Kingdom.
Lender: evn collection, Maria Enzersdorf, Austria
A shelf on the wall appears to have exploded: numerous elements made of colorful scraps of fabric, plaster, and wood remnants are fused into an elongated form, yet their individual components remain visible. Phyllida Barlow’s sculpture STREET. Untitled: broken shelf is installed in Paper, Rock, Scissors so that it can also be viewed from below. This fragile yet powerful work offers a glimpse of the extraordinary oeuvre of an artist whose former students include Rachel Whiteread and Douglas Gordon. (1)
For the 2017 Venice Biennale, the artist constructed an enormous balcony inside the British pavilion. Oversized lollipops made of concrete were also placed outside the front entrance. Barlow’s works are not integrated into the architecture; they overwhelm spaces. (2) Showing how her sculptures are constructed is important to the artist. Phyllida Barlow does not speak of an audience but of other protagonists and performers who are just as important as the works themselves. (3)
Her sculptures are made of cardboard, plywood, concrete, paint, gauze, wire mesh, and black plastic garbage bags sealed with tape. Her use of cheap, utilitarian materials is tied to a deep understanding of history. She draws on the language of sculpture: whether something falls over or appears upright and authoritative; whether it is suspended and has no fixed place. Almost all of the works she created in the five decades before 2010 were smashed and dismantled after presentation. (4)
Mona Jas