3D CONTEXT: ARTIST RESEARCH

Although born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1944 Barlow was brought up in a London where she studied at Chelsea College of Art (1960–63) where she was able to learn that the act of making was in itself an adventure. A sculpture that falls over or breaks is just as exciting as one that reveals itself perfectly formed. All the acts of making are valid. She creates work with the intention of making something larger than herself, reflecting and contrasting with her environment as well as attaching new meaning and purpose to existing material’s. She also explores the relationship between her work and space it occupies. She repeatedly questions whether the space dominates the work or the work dominates the space.

I like the artists use of scale and playfulness, her work is almost childlike and messy never appearing truly finished or polished. Her careful and exciting use of bold colours also add to the child likeness of her work. The sculptures and instillations encourage the viewer to move round and through it from all angels. The artist uses the space to its full potential and considers every aspect of the space it will fill. I also like the artists inexpensive use of materials such as cardboard, fabric, timber, polystyrene, plaster, scrim and cement.

Sara Barker was born in Manchester in 1980. She studies at Glasgow School of Art in the city of Glasgow where she now lives and works. The artists work braks the boundaries between painting and sculpture. Skeletal structures in aluminium and steel presented in wonky rectangular shapes with contrasting lines, as though uncertain of themselves. Their surfaces are then coated with layers of oil paint, gouache and watercolour. The artists colour pallet resembles that of a landscape watercolour. Barkers work evokes ‘that top-heaviness and precariousness’ of sketching in three-dimensional form. As such, her combinations of bespoke materials challenge traditional perceptions of structural solidity, the lightest often providing the weightiest support for the basis of the sculpture”. Her liminal streaks of colour provide what she describes as ‘cracks in a door’ or glimpses into another realm. Her sculptures are completed by the spaces in which they are installed by implementing the negative space around them; resulting in abstract  dream-like sequences of materials.

I find this artists combination of materials the most interestin, using each to their full potential as the colours of the paint always compliment the light and the space in which the work is presented. Also the artist’s use of shape and how these large geometrical forms ply and interact with the surrounding environment.

Zoe Leonard (born 1961) is an American artist who works primarily with photography and sculpture. The now New York based artist merges photography, sculpture, and installation. By employing strategies of repetition, shifting perspectives, and a multitude of printing processes, the artists practice probes the politics of representation and display as well as exploring themes such as gender and sexuality, loss and mourning, migration, displacement, and the urban landscape. Her photography work invites the viewer to contemplate the role that the medium plays in contributing to history. Her work always encourages the viewer to reconsider the act of looking itself, presenting it as an ongoing process.

I like this artists work as she explores interesting diverse themes such as societal roles, gentrification, injustice and daily life. This makes us the viewer reflect our own environments and behaviours. Her sculptural work always inhabits the space in an almost non-invasive way. It is almost presented neatly like a passing idea or question.  This further engages the viewer to think of her work outside of a gallery context and within the real modern world.

Gordon Matta-clark was born in 1943 in America and trained originally as an architect. He is best known for his spectacular ‘building cuts’ that are often seen as an outright rejection of the architectural profession. Dealing with themes of metamorphosis and resistance towards the commodification of art, he went on to study architecture at Cornell university from 1963 to 1968, where he met Robert Smithson who influenced his interest in using non-art materials. Moving back to New York, he experimented with both food and photography as well as documenting the burgeoning graffiti-scene and the sewers and subways of the city. 

I find the artists use of medium the most interesting as well as his use of space. His ‘building cuts’ are site specific and his work was often illegal and destroyed directly after completion. This element of impermanence to his work is interesting also, the idea of creating something just to have the intention of destroying it. The impermanence i find playful and it makes his work somehow feel more special and outlandish.