Sculpture's glittering prizes

• Published in: Apollo
• Main Author: Livingstone, Marco
• Format: Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2011
• ISSN: 0003-6536

The work of British Pop artist Clive Barker is featured. Barker has distinguished himself through his dedication to sculpture based on ordinary objects and fabricated in unconventional materials. The role of visual wit and playfulness in his work is considered, and the persistent youthfulness of his oeuvre, despite the fact that he recently turned 70, is noted. His training is briefly addressed and his lack of a dedicated studio throughout his career is discussed. While his allegiance has always been to sculpture, it has been to painting as a medium, and to the history of painting, that Barker continues to make reference. He always aims for a perfection of surface and manufacture, but this impersonal look often conveys intimate, sometimes autobiographical, experiences.