POP NOW! Recent Works by Clive Barker

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 2F A 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

BARKER09 Covers 11/5/09 16:02 Page 1

CAZIEL Pages 2012_Whitford 24/04/2012 12:00 Page B

CLIVE BARKER

POP NOW!

4 June – 3 July 2009

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

www.whitfordfineart.com


WFA-C.Baker Pages 7/5/09 16:41 Page 1

Clive Barker in his studio, 2009


Nearly five decades after emerging as a P op Artist, Clive Barker continues to make sculpturescharacterized by themes and techniques drawn from popular mass culture. Today, as then Barker’s artsets out to reflect its own time. Icons of advertising, comic books and mundane cultur al objects areremoved from their context and typically isolated, combined or transformed for contemplation by theviewer. The ever-present ad-mass culture has seen to it that Pop Art has held its plac e and remainsan exciting, vigorous art movement.

Barker’s 1960’s work by and large celebrated the possibilities and freedoms of a transformed society,segmented in chrome-plated bronze casts of the everyday, the banal or kitsch elements of our culture,often through the use of irony.

Whereas Barker’s recent use of polished bronze revives the manufactured, shiny and new gift-wrappedfeeling of his 1960’s chrome plated objects, his present iconography is charged with a different content,as it contemplates and investigates the outcome of mass-consumerism proclaimed as the way forwardduring the heyday of Pop.

Jelly Bean Machine and American Payphone No. 2 nostalgically embody instant gratification attainedby putting a coin in a slot. Cast in bronze, these objects are transformed into ineffective machines ofindulgence, whereby money can’t buy what one desir es in a society that s tarts to look beyondconsumerism for happiness.

Spanners captures the es sence of the har d manual labour which laid at the r oot of the pos t-wareconomic growth. At present, these tools which Barker associates with his time at V auxhall Motorsduring 1960-61 symbolize an industry now in trouble.

In Still Life with Mushrooms, Napoleon and a Mouse and in Twin Napoleons, the epic of an influentialhistorical leader is replaced with the banal, which is awarded the same significance as the unique.ThusBarker seems to evoke the present mistrust of politicians.

Magritte’s Hat, the latest in Barker’s series of ‘homages’ started in 1968, shows a bowler hat toppedwith a crescent moon, two icons of the surr ealist painter but today a possible allusion to the ever-growing cultural influence of the Middle East.

Shown for the first time since its creation just months before the fatal events of 9/11 is SAFELY DOWN!.The culmination of tw o years working with Superman imagery, Bark er had unwittingl y made areference to a horrifying act of major his torical importance. This work, amongst others, brings backdirect experience and primary emotion, which Pop Art always rejected. The introduction of this subtletransformation of an original Pop Art principle allows Barker to bridge the 1960s to the present day.

An Jo Fermon, June 2009

POP NOW!



1 Double Agent

2 SAFELY DOWN! That Was a Job for SUPERMAN!

3 Napoleon Twins

4 For Rose XXX

5 William Nicholson's Brushes

6 American Payphone No. 2

7 Spanners

8 Jelly Bean Machine No. 2

9 Magritte’s Hat

10 Still Life with Mushrooms, Napoleon and a Mouse

11 Handbag

12 Breakfast

WORKS


1

Double Agent

2001

Polished white and yellow bronze

14.7 x 11.2 cm

5 3/4 x 4 1/2 in

Unique



2

SAFELY DOWN! That Was a Job for SUPERMAN!

2001

Polished bronze

200 cm long and 100 cm wide

78 3/4 in long and 39 1/2 in wide

Unique


2

SAFELY DOWN! That Was a Job for SUPERMAN!

2001

Polished bronze

200 cm long and 100 cm wide

78 3/4 in long and 39 1/2 in wide

Unique


3

Napoleon Twins

2007

Polished bronze

34.3 cm high and 41 cm wide

13 1/2 in high and 16 1/8 in wide

Edition of 3



4

For Rose XXX

1969 – 2008

Silver-plated bronze

29.8 cm high

11 3/4 in high

Edition of 6

1 A/P



5

William Nicholson's Brushes

2008

Copper-plated bronze and polished bronze

48.3 cm high

19 in high

Unique



6

American Payphone No. 2

2008

Polished bronze

46.3 x 21.3 x 15.9 cm

18 1/8 x 8 3/8 x 6 1/4 in

Unique



7

Spanners

2009

Polished bronze

9.2 cm high and 30.5 cm long

3 5/8 in high and 12 in long

Unique



8

Jelly Bean Machine No. 2

2007

Polished bronze

28 cm high and 30.5 cm diameter

11 in high and 12 in diameter

Unique

EXHIBITED: 2008, Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London



9

Magritte’s Hat

2008

Bronze with black patina and polished bronze

23.5 x 28.5 x 24 cm

9 1/4 x 11 1/4 x 9 7/16 in

Edition of 6

1 A/P



10

Still Life with Mushrooms, Napoleon and a Mouse

2007

Polished bronze

36.8 x 47 x 30.5 cm

14 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 12 in

Unique



11

Handbag

2009

Polished bronze and red perspex

38 x 30.5 x 22 cm

15 x 12 x 8 5/8 in

Unique



12

Breakfast

2009

Polished bronze

26.7 x 35.5 x 45.7 cm

10 1/2 x 14 x 18 in

Unique



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 CliveBarker, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, JannHowarth and Colin Self’, Robert Fraser Gallery,London, and in ‘British Artists: 6 Painters, 6

Sculptors’, 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.

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. Included in a group show at Baukunst-Galerie,Cologne.

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

Biography and Exhibitions


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 andBritish Artists of the ‘60s in the ‘80s’, Odakyu GrandGallery, Tokyo, touring Osaka, Funabashi andYokohama.

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.

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.

Clive Barker lives and works in London.


All unique works are signed, dated and titled; all editioned works are

signed, dated, titled and numbered

Front cover: detail of Magritte’s Hat (cat. no. 9)

All works © Whitford Fine Art

Introduction and research by An Jo Fermon

Produced by Artmedia Press Ltd • London


CAZIEL Pages 2012_Whitford 24/04/2012 12:00 Page C

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 2F A 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


CLIVE BARKER

BARKER09 Covers 11/5/09 16:02 Page 1

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POP NOW! Recent Works by Clive Barker