© Courtesy Claire Barclay
Claire Barclay is one of the exciting new generation of Scottish artists who came out of the Glasgow School of Art in the 1990s. She produces beautiful sculptural installations with a balance of elements contrasting function and dysfunction, chaos and order.
One of her key influences is an ongoing fascination with historical and anthropological artefacts.
A few months ago, a visit to the National Museum in Copenhagen led to an encounter with two thumbed mitts, sealskin thongs, a lacquered stand for scenting a kimono, scissors made from bone, woven cane leg coverings for a child and unusual spurs for horse riding.
“I am drawn to the more ambiguous museum objects,” she says. “They spark a curiosity as to their uses and meanings.”
She is also interested in information and ideas that relate to the psychological connections between people and objects, or between form, material and meaning.
Barclay cites Daniel Miller's book The Comfort of Things – “an interesting study of people's personalities through the objects that surround their lives” – as an inspiration.
She is also drawn to “artwork which strongly references the body without representing it conventionally”. Rebecca Horn's body attachments, such as Head Extension or Finger Gloves, are one example, as are Yvonne Rainer's Hand Movie, Gabriel Orozco's small clay sculptures Tri and Double Tail, Ruth Vollmer's bronze sculpture, Oscule, and Franz West's Adaptives.
Visit Claire Barclay's website
Read about Claire Barclay on the Tate website
Go to the Connect10 artist index page
Some artwork:
Shadow Spans, Whitechapel (2010)© Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photography courtesy of Stephen White
Flat Peach I© courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London Photography courtesy of Stephen White
Soft Group© courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London Photography courtesy of Stephen White
