Phyllida Barlow: ‘small words’ – Hauser & Wirth Zürich

Phyllida Barlow: ‘small words’ – Hauser & Wirth Zürich For more than fifty years, acclaimed British artist Phyllida Barlow has created sculptures and large-scale installations using a direct and intuitive process of making. Her first solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Zürich, ‘small worlds’, features new sculptures, drawings and wall-works made by the artist during and inspired by the 2020 lockdown in London. 22 January – 14 May 2021.

Source: Hauser & Wirth Zürich

Barlow’s sculptural practice is grounded in an anti-monumental tradition and is concerned with the relationship between objects and the space that surrounds them. She is known for transforming humble, readily available materials through layering, accumulation, and juxtaposition, often drawing inspiration from her urban surroundings and referencing construction debris, architectural details, signs, and discarded objects. The works on view encourage an intimate encounter between object and viewer, continuing a career-long exploration into the ways in which sculpture can dissolve boundaries between realms of experience.

The artist’s new ‘lockdown’ sculptures in Zurich continue a shift away from the more immersive environments within her practice. Created in her home studio in London, these smaller sculptures, placed on steel plinths or directly onto the wall, invite the viewer to consider the works on an individual and more intimate basis. Working on a smaller scale during this period has also allowed the artist to return to a more direct means of making. As Barlow writes:

‘i wanted simplicity of making:
a minimum of technical problems, speedy solutions, easy to use materials,
not too much thinking, a return to previous works, and memories of previous works, no experimenting, to trust what i know, to forget innovation;’