My studio life: Phyllida Barlow RA
By Tom Jeffreys
Published on 4 December 2013
We visited Phyllida Barlow RA in her busy studio as she prepared for an installation at Tate Britain.
Phyllida Barlow RA creates tactile, seemingly precarious structures that resonate with emotional intensity and the urgency of their creation. Often recycling her materials, she recontextuatlises detritus and found matter in unexpected ways. Her installations redefine the spaces they inhabit. They are abstract works that seem to allude to representation and some sort of contingency purpose.
We caught up with the artist in her studio as she prepared for a major installation.
"I've been in this space in Bermondsey for two years. I still have my studio at home in Finsbury Park…"
"…but I need this for larger-scale works."
"This is a very busy period for us, as we're in the middle of working on the Duveen commission for Tate Britain."
"I started using assistants for the very large works in the early 1990s."
"It’s always odd being the artist with assistants, because it looks like you’re not doing anything!"
"These are very skilled practitioners, but there just aren’t the opportunities around now for artists. If you're an artist, you don't necessarily want to be making somebody else's work..."
"… but at least this provides them with some stability."
"In my home studio, I use very simple and limited technology – simple hand drills and the like. This is almost working on an industrial scale."
"I don’t know in advance how any particular project will work out. It can’t just be designed by me for somebody else to execute. So it all happens here in the space – the process is sort of performative in that way."
"I enjoy the idea of reaching into the space of the space, beyond the human scale, exploring overhead or underfoot – my work is often parasitic or antagonistic to the building. I see each space as something to be explored, rather than just a place to put something."
"I don’t know any art that isn’t traditional in some ways. The minute you’ve decided it’s art, you’re immediately involved in the tradition of being looked at and being seen."
"On which note, here are my daughter and granddaughter – just in time for lunch."
Related articles
In memoriam: Phyllida Barlow RA
26 May 2023
Five minutes with Ryan Gander RA
13 June 2022
Digital premiere: watch the PHYLLIDA documentary
4 April 2020