Phyllida Barlow, Undercover 2, 2020 Timber, plywood, cement, scrim, plaster, polyurethane foam, paint, PVA, calico, steel.
Parallel to her studio practice, Barlow worked as a teacher for more than forty years before retiring in 2009 from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, where she was made Emerita Professor of Fine Art. On the occasion of her first Los Angeles exhibition and in the spirit of her acclaimed pedagogical career, Hauser & Wirth Publishers recently released ‘Phyllida Barlow: Collected Lectures, Writings, and Interviews,’ a publication that brings together 50 texts by Barlow – a diverse array of prose, presentations, reflections on exhibitions, and conversations with art-world luminaries, critics, and fellow artists – from across her esteemed practice. This volume illuminates Barlow’s unique insights and serves as a compelling complement to the works on view in ‘glimpse.’
Barlow has exhibited extensively at international venues, including the 2017 Venice Biennale where she represented Great Britain. Recent solo and group exhibitions include ‘act,’ a site-specific outdoor sculpture at London’s Highgate Cemetery (24 July – 30 August 2021), the major retrospective ‘frontier’ at Haus der Kunst in Munich (3 March – 25 July 2021), and ‘Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging,’ a group exhibition featuring 16 female artists in their 70s or older at the Mori Museum in Tokyo (2 April – 16 January 2022). Last summer, the artist was commissioned to create the stage design for the Munich Opera’s new production of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo.’