Clive Barker: Objects for Contemplation

6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’SL O N D O N S W 1 Y 6 B NT E L . + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 9 3 0 9 3 3 2FA X . + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 7 9 3 0 5 5 7 7i n f o@w h i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c o mw w w . w h i t f o r d f i n e a r t . c o m

WHITFORDF I N E A R T

CLIVE BARKER

BARKER13 Covers_Whitford Cover 31/08/2013 16:41 Page 1

CLIVE BARKERObjects for Contemplation

9 October – 1 November 2013

6 DUKE STREET ST. JAMES’S LONDON SW1Y 6BNTEL. +44 (0)20 7930 9332 EMAIL [email protected]

www.whitfordfineart.com


All Works are for Sale

Barker Pages 2013_Whitford 31/08/2013 17:06 Page 1

For over half a century now, Clive Barker has cast or fabricated sculptures in bronze and other metalslargely from found objects and finished them impeccably in a variety of surfaces, sometimes polished orplated in gold or silver so that they gleam like luxury commodities, sometimes painted or given a moretraditionally artistic patina. Dispensing with the conventional tools of the sculptor and considering even astudio to be superfluous, he has instead concentrated his attention on choosing the objects that he takesto the foundry for casting – often with minimal apparent alteration – and on presiding over the processwith absolute attention to detail but with scant need for his personal manual intervention. The conceptualrigour of his procedure, based on his observations as a very young man of the assembly-line methodsemployed in a car factory at which he was working, has paradoxically gone hand-in-hand with an intensesubjectivity in his selection and an insistence on the sensuous physicality of the objects that are the end-product of a step-by-step process born of a kind of daydream. Given the wide-ranging nature of hisimagery, it is impressive to witness how this hands-off approach results repeatedly in sculptures that notonly look confident and inevitable but that consistently bear the stamp of his artistic vision.

Where one of his American Pop colleagues, Claes Oldenburg, reinvented sculpture in the early 1960s bytaking ‘hard’ manufactured objects from the contemporary environment and rendering them as ‘soft’forms sewn from canvas, Barker has often turned forms that are pliable or tender to the touch – as in thecase of new works replicating boxing gloves or bunches of asparagus – into inflexible metal objects thatconvey an indisputable sense of their permanence. In works of the past several years displayed here,Barker addresses fragility (an origami boat), transience (fresh seasonal produce with a short shelf-life),built-in obsolescence (objects, such as a leather bag, showing signs of wear) and even death (butcheredpigs’ heads), while rendering them all virtually indestructible and thus immortal. The result is double-edged, since in presenting to our attention artefacts that we understand will long outlive us, each alsoacts as a memento mori, a reminder of the inevitability of our limited time on earth. That theprecariousness of life should be a pressing subject for an artist now in his early seventies is notsurprising, however optimistic the tone of Barker’s art in general. In Canary and Lamp Barker recalls thenow discontinued practice of taking such birds into the mines as a way of warning the workers of thepresence of carbon monoxide and other noxious gases.

Trained as a painter, Barker has long made allusion to the materials and practice of art and to favouriteartists and works from art history. These have taken the form of direct quotations, of glancing referencesand of images conforming to generic motifs: so there have been homages to Magritte, Van Gogh andSoutine, and to friends and contemporaries including Bacon and Hockney; revisions of the Venus de Milo;objects in the form of painting boxes and palettes, and sculptures shaped as schematized musicalinstruments that summon echoes of Cubism. All these approaches remain in evidence in the new works,enabling Barker to range widely in imagery while remaining consistent in his celebration of the emotiveassociative powers of art. A gleaming, gold-plated easel converts a necessary accoutrement of atraditional painter’s studio into a contraption that no longer has a practical function but that is now,particularly identified as Lucian Freud’s Easel, an object of veneration. The two sculptures of asparagustake their place within the history of still-life painting stretching back at least as far as Chardin, but withparticular reference to an exquisite little canvas of 1880 by Manet in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. Crown

Objects for Contemplation


of Thorns, a rare excursion into Christian imagery, reconfigures one of the most distressing episodes, thatof the Mocking of Christ, as a highly desirable piece of luxurious jewellery in a purpose-made velvet-cladcase, pointedly focussing the viewer’s thoughts on the fetishizing of pain and martyrdom in the Catholictradition of relics of the saints. On a much lighter note, The Mad Hatter’s Hat takes us into the world ofLewis Carroll’s Alice adventures and particularly back to the celebrated illustrations of John Tenniel andmore recently to those of Barker’s friend Peter Blake.

Perhaps the most sober of the new works, Napoleon’s Hat at Waterloo, conjures the personality andmissing face and body of the celebrated historical figure for whom it acts as surrogate. Like the bowlerbelonging to the mad hatter or the boxing gloves presented in isolation, but still seemingly inhabited bypowerful male hands, this solitary painted bronze reminds us powerfully of an implicit human presenceand of the particular human mind in which all these works originated. The illusionism at work here istaken one step further in Overnight Bag, a tour-de-force of trompe’l-oeil techniques in the meticulouscasting of a leather bag, complete with brass-hued metal fastenings and a textured surface made all themore convincing by the application of a black patina. Unlike the original case from which it was cloned,this bag will never open and will not be able to carry any possessions. As a work of art, it no longer has apractical function. It does, however, conceptually remain a powerful container, a literally andmetaphorically weighty receptacle for thought, emotion and reflection. Like so many of Barker’ssculptures, it presents itself in the guise of an ordinary thing that we might not even notice, but that oncespotted becomes the intense focus of one’s attention. It is transformed into an object of contemplationthat slowly yields its mysterious secrets in direct proportion to one’s own readiness to be seduced,mesmerized and carried to another world, the world of the imagination.

Marco Livingstone, 2013


1.

Crown of Thorns2010

Polished bronze and mixed media

Crown 26.7 cm; 10 ½ in diameter

Box 7.5 x 30.5 x 31.7 cm; 3 x 12 in x 12 ½ in

Unique



2.

A Bunch of Asparagus2010

Polished bronze

25 x 15 x 15 cm

9 7/8 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in

Signed, dated and titled

Unique



3.

Boxing Gloves2013

Polished bronze

16 x 23 x 30.5 cm

6 ¼ x 9 x 12 in

Signed, dated, titled and numbered

Edition of 2

1 A/P



4.

Canary and Lamp2013

Mixed media and polished bronze

40.6 cm high

16 in high


Unique



5.

The Mad Hatter's Hat2009

Bronze with black patina and polished bronze

14.6 x 23.3 x 29.2 cm

5 ¾ x 9 1/8 x 11 ½ in high


Edition of 6

1 A/P



6.

Two Heads2012

Polished bronze

28.3 x 44 x 33 cm

11 ¼ x 17 ¼ x 13 in


Unique



7.

Overnight Bag2010

Bronze with black patina and polished bronze

41 x 21 x 30 cm

16 1/8 x 8 ¼ x 11 ¾ in


Unique



8.

Lucian Freud’s Easel2013

Polished bronze

202.5 cm high

79 ¾ in high


Unique



9.

Origami Boat2010

Polished bronze

13 x 36.3 x 15.2 cm

5 1/8 x 14 ¼ x 6 in


Unique



10.

Asparagus2010

Polished bronze and red lucite

11.5 x 46 x 46 cm

4 ½ x 18 1/8 x 18 1/8 in


Unique



11.

Boxing Gloves 22013

Polished bronze

60 cm long

23 5/8 in long


Edition of 2

1 A/P



12.

Napoleon’s Hat at Waterloo2010

Bronze with black patina, enamelled and polished bronze

20 x 49.5 x 28 cm

7 7/8 x 19 ½ x 11 in


Edition of 3



13.

Nipper2013

Polished bronze

34.9 cm high

13 3 /4 in high


Edition of 2

1 A/P



1940 Born in Luton.

1957-59 Trained as a painter at Luton College of Technologyand Art. Developed a particular interest in thepainting of Cézanne, Picasso, Soutine and Van Gogh,which would later be expressed in his sculpture. Anunsympathetic sculpture teacher discouraged hisinterest in the subject.

1960-61 Worked on the assembly line at Vauxhall Motors,Luton, for a period of fifteen months. Working withchrome plated and leather upholstered car partswould later prove to be a formative experience.Imagined making art as consumer goods, theproduct of co-ordinated cooperation betweenspecialist craftsmen.

1961 Moved to London. Started concentrating on makingobjects. Using corrugated cardboard, fabricated aseries of five targets, realising his own versions ofthis Pop Art icon.

1962 First use of neon. First use of the zip image in Three Zips, silkscreen on canvas.Included in ‘Young Contemporaries’, RBA Galleries,London.

1963 First leather-upholstered objects and first Popworks.

1964 First casts in bronze and aluminium. Two Palettesfor Jim Dine, a homage to the American whosepaintings Barker had seen at the Robert FraserGallery, marked the beginning of the use of chromeplating. Included in ‘118 Show’, Kasmin Gallery, London.

1965 Tutor at Maidstone School of Art.

1966 First visit to New York. Cast Coke with Teat, a first ina series of Coke bottles.Included in ‘New Idioms’, Robert Fraser Gallery,London.

1967 Included ‘Tribute to Robert Fraser’, Robert FraserGallery, and in ‘Englische Kunst’, Galerie BrunoBischofberger, Zurich.

1968 One-man show at the Robert Fraser Gallery. Included in ‘Works from 1956 to 1967 by Clive

Barker, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, JannHowarth and Colin Self’, Robert Fraser Gallery,London, and in ‘British Artists: 6 Painters, 6Sculptors’, an exhibition circulated by the Museumof Modern Art, New York.

1969 One-man show at the Hanover Gallery. Included in ‘Pop Art’, Hayward Gallery, London, andin ‘Young and Fantastic’, ICA, London.Cast the life mask of his friend Francis Bacon

1970 The Tate Gallery, London, purchased Splash (1967). Included in ‘British Sculpture out of the Sixties’, ICA,London,

1971 First references to Classical Greek sculpture.Second visit to New York. First show at BaukunstGalerie, Cologne.

1973-74 War Heads, series of six gas masks and skulls.

1973 Included in a group shows at Baukunst-Galerie,Cologne.

1974 One-man show at Anthony d’Offay, London.

1976 Mannheim Kunsthalle purchased Portrait ofMadame Magritte (1970-73).

1977 Included in ‘British Artists of the 60’s’, Tate Gallery,London.

1978 Made a series of twelve bronze and brass studies ofFrancis Bacon. ‘One-man show’ at Felicity Samuel Gallery, London.The Arts Council purchased Study of Francis Bacon,No.1 (1978).The Aberdeen Art Gallery purchasedStudy of Francis Bacon, No.6 (1978).

1980 The Imperial War Museum, London purchasedGerman Head ‘42 (1974).

1981 Made a group of portrait heads of friends, includingEduardo Paolozzi and Marianne Faithfull. Included in ‘British Sculpture in the 20th Century’,Whitechapel Art Gallery, London.

1981-82 Retrospective exhibition at Sheffield City Art Galleries,touring Stoke, Eastbourne and Cheltenham. Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, purchased Helmet (1973).

Biography and Exhibitions


Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield purchased Way Out(Brown Exit) (1963-64).The Imperial War Museum acquired the War Heads(1973-74) series.

1983 One-Man show of War Heads at Imperial WarMuseum, London. Included in ‘BlackWhite’ at Robert Fraser Gallery,London.

1984 Included in ‘British Pop Art’ at Robert FraserGallery, London.

1985 Exhibition of Boxes, a series of thirty-five sculpturalscenes placed in wooden boxes (executed 1972 -85)at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

1986 The Contemporary Art Society purchased Study ofFrancis Bacon, No.7 (1978), for Ferens Art Gallery,Hull. Included in ‘Forty Years of Modern Art 1945-1985’, Tate Gallery, London.

1987 One-man show of Barker’s portrait drawings(executed 1983-87) and sculptures, at the NationalPortrait Gallery, London. Included in ‘Pop Art U.S.A.-U.K.: American and BritishArtists of the ‘60s in the ‘80s’, Odakyu Grand Gallery,Tokyo, touring Osaka, Funabashi and Yokohama.

1988 The National Portrait Gallery, London, acquires thegold leaf version of Life Mask of Francis Bacon(1969).

1990 Returned to Classical Greek subject matter.

1991 Included in ‘Pop Art’, Royal Academy of Arts,London, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Centro de ArteReina Sofia, Madrid and Montreal Museum of FineArts, Montreal.

1992 Commenced a group of still-lifes presented on castiron tables. With Gold Coke returned to the themeof the Coke bottle.

1993 The City of Luton commissioned Elephant for Luton.Included in ‘The Sixties Art Scene in London’,Barbican Art Gallery, London.

1995 Returned to the subject matter of Cubism with twoCubist still-lifes.

Included in ‘Post-War to Pop’, Whitford Fine Art,London.

1996 The Berardo Foundation acquired Homage toSoutine (1969) for the Sintra Museum of Modern Art,Lisbon.

1997 Included in ‘Pop Art’, Norwich Castle Museum, in‘Les Sixties: Great Britain and France 1962-1973,The Utopian Years’, Brighton Museum and ArtGallery, and in ‘The Pop ‘60s: TransatlanticCrossing’, Centro Cultural de Belem, Lisbon.

1998 Further reference to classical sculpture is found inHelmets; a new series of still-lifes incorporatesfruit, shells and breads. Box Camera and Flashanticipated a group of eight camera sculpturesexecuted in 1999. Space Pilot X-Ray Gun, Dalek, Darth Vader andLight Sabre highlight Barker’s love of the sciencefiction series ‘Dr Who’ and ‘Star Wars’. Included in ‘Modern British Art’ at Tate Gallery,Liverpool.

2000 With The Last Coke Bottle, Barker drew a line underthis seminal subject of his visual vocabulary. One-man show at Whitford Fine Art, London.

2001 Commenced Alphabet and a new series of still-lifes.Showed in ‘Pop Art: U.S./U.K. Connections 1956-1966’, The Menil Collection, Houston (Texas). The Berardo Foundation acquired Fridge (1999) forthe Sintra Museum of Modern Art, Lisbon.

2003 One-man show at Whitford Fine Art, London tocoincide with the publication of a catalogueraisonné.

2004 One-man show at Arte e Arte, Galleria d’ArteModerna, Bologna. Showed in ‘Pop Art UK: BritishPop Art 1956-1972’, the Galleria Civica and theFondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena, and inArt & the 60’s. This was Tomorrow, Tate Britain,London.

2005 Showed in ‘British Pop’, Museo de Bellas Artes deBilbao, Bilbao.

2006 One-man show at Whitford Fine Art.One-man show at Galerie Markus Winter, Berlin.


All artworks ©Whitford Fine Art

Text ©Marco Livingstone

Edited by An Jo Fermon

Exhibition management by Gabriel Toso

Photography of cat 1, 3-4, 6, 8, 11, 13 and cover by Mario Bettella

Photography of cat 2, 5, 7, 9-10, 12 by the late Miki Slingsby

Produced by Artmedia Press Ltd • London

2008 Showed in ‘Post-War to Pop’, Whitford Fine Art.,London. Included in ‘Triptyque: Art ContemporainAngers, France. Exhibited at the ‘SummerExhibition’, Royal Academy of Arts, London.

2008-09 Included in ‘Supermarket Pop: Art &Consumerism’, Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

2008-10 Included in ‘Unpopular Culture Grayson Perryselects from the Arts Council Collection’, touringexhibition, UK.

2009 Present iconography contemplates and investigatesthe outcome of mass-consumerism of the heyday ofPop.One-man show at Whitford Fine Art, London.

2010 Showed at ‘Pop Protest: Art for and Anxious Age’,Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

2011 The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaideacquired Coke with Two Straws (1968).Shown in ‘Snap, Crackle and Pop’, The LightboxGallery, Woking.

2013 Included in ‘New Situation: Art in London in theSixties’, Sotheby’s, London.Included in ‘When Britain Went Pop! British Pop Art:The Early Years’, Waddington-Custot, London.

In recent years, Barker’s work has become contem-plative, reflecting on history, transience and death.

Clive Barker lives and works in London.

Front cover: Boxing Gloves 2 (cat. no. 11)


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CLIVE BARKER

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Clive Barker: Objects for Contemplation