It doesn't seem to me that this artist was conducting research in the way that other artists do. And yet, Phyllida Barlow is the sculptor who explained sculpture to me, expanded the boundaries of understanding art and made me fall in love with simple objects.
The whole approach of her work is like living life through the knowledge of simple truths. I have repeatedly analysed and compared this artist with me. She, like me, began to create through the denial of norms and foundations.
She did not like the limited approach to teaching sculptors, as well as the widespread sexism. In addition, her narrative grew out of the objects around her. Since childhood, there were many items at home from which she and her mother made crafts, later this was reflected in Barlow's style.
After analysing the history of this artist, I imposed this experience on me. Oddly enough, my motivation was the same, except that I did not encounter sexism, on the contrary. During my University time, 90% of the students were girls. At the age of 2, my parents took me to the dacha (summer house in nature) every summer. 200 kilometres from Moscow and there I was left on my own because my grandmothers were engaged in a garden. Dad had a huge workshop and next to it was a barn with all sorts of old materials. So until the age of 14, every summer I read Dreiser, London and Dostoevsky and created from the found materials for my room. Now, many years later, unconsciously I have recreated my father's workshop at my home in Germany and continue to make from old building materials.
Barlow's approach to work was motivated by the memories of the destroyed city after the Second World War. Therefore, the issue of damage and repair has become a key issue in the entire work of the artist. This approach to the analysis of being is insanely close to me. When creating physical objects and drawings, Barlow does not give a loud answer and does not indicate "it should be like this." Rather, she alludes to certain moments and accumulates them in a physical object.
This approach I can use with my interests. Oddly enough, the war became an important moment in the revision of everything that I did. It was like something was missing, but now my idea has become complete. Before the war, I was interested in the emotional attitude of a person to objects, colour, and aesthetics, but now all this has been supplemented by death, aggression and moral decay. The only question is how to combine it?
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