PRANK: antic; 2022/23

Barlow plays with the idea that art may well cause some discomfort, like an intruder in space. Where does art belong, and for whom is it intended? She challenges the traditional view of art and turns classical values ​​such as symmetry and balance upside down. The result sometimes seems chaotic and absurd, but feels surprisingly human because of its vulnerability.

The PRANK series, completed just before her death in 2023, consists of seven sculptures of precariously stacked furniture and studio objects. For the first time, Barlow worked with robust outdoor materials such as steel and fibreglass. In doing so, she broke with her typical use of cardboard, fabric and cement.

A recurring motif is the funny white ‘rabbit ears’. They wobble, climb or grab onto the sculptures. Barlow had already introduced them in her early work, as an ironic nod to the bombast of classical, male sculptures. They give her sculptures something comical and light, and therefore also something rebellious.

The series was shown in City Hall Park in New York and is considered Barlow’s last statement. Her work calls for looking with a double gaze: wonder and reflection. In her world, sculpture is never distant, but physical, absurd and full of life — an art form that knows the rules and happily ignores them.

Phyllida Barlow (1944-2023, UK) made anti-monumental sculptures from simple materials such as cardboard, fabric and cement for almost 60 years. Her large, playful installations are deliberately clumsy, so that they reveal their vulnerability. She also shows traces of the making process, challenges the space and invites the audience to experience sculpture differently. In 2017 she represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale.