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Claire Barclay - Openwide
Silver Gilt, 2005, brass, printed fabric, leather by Claire Barclay (c) Courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery. Photo: Ruth Clark
Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
26 February 2009, 6.15-7.45pm
This month we will be visiting The Fruitmarket Gallery to see a solo exhibition of work by Scottish artist Claire Barclay, known for work which takes the form of highly crafted sculptural objects brought together into precisely plotted relationships. Featuring newly commissioned work shown in the context of objects made over the course of her career, the exhibition offers an opportunity to trace the development of the artist’s singular sculptural language.
Barclay encourages us to engage with her work on a profoundly instinctual level. We think we recognise familiar objects, like keys, pots or combs, but all have been shaped in such a way as to prevent any practical use. Tables defy gravity to stand on three legs, while chairs have neither a seat nor a back. Unable to attribute meaning through function, we are led instead on an associative journey triggered by memory and the imagination that draws on the sensory and the subconscious as well as the demands of reason.
Biography: Claire Barclay was born in 1968 in Paisley and currently lives and works in Glasgow. She graduated from the Environmental Art and Sculpture Course at Glasgow School of Art in 1990 and completed an MFA in Glasgow in 1993. In 2003, she represented Scotland at the Venice Bienniale alongside Simon Starling and Jim Lambie. She is represented by doggerfisher, Edinburgh.