ART 'N' AB ART - Phyllida Barlow & Daisy Parris - Wolterton Hall Exhibition

Phyllida Barlow's sculptures appear to be forming a precarious and temporary balancing act. All the elements whether wood, metal, scraps of paper, plastic, slathered in plaster, dust and paint, sometimes are held together with duck tape, or rooted in a tin full of cement. They possess an improvisatory feel. That this is only one way these elements could be assembled, turn your back and they might reconfigure completely their current form and emphasis. 

In the magnificent lofty heights of a Georgian mansion, with it's grand self concept, built to impress, Barlow's sculptures feel even more like rough and uncouth rebels, coarsely protesting, refusing to submit to the language of classical proportions, its implied refinement and sense of self importance. This chaotic intervention, anarchic even, confronts us in the gallery spaces at Wolterton. Sculptures cluster together, these like minded figures in a three or four-way conversation on plinths. Some are freestanding, with an unbearable weight perched atop precariously pointy stick legs, elements stacked in layers or clustered together as dildos moulded in plaster. 

There is always a wildly pagan earthiness, from the grounded humdrum ordinariness of Barlow's material choices. These disrupt any expectations of grand statements, or monumentally elevated perspectives. The rattling argument of wood chairs in the stairwell are a case in point, they are a riot of imprecision and informality, their surfaces skimmed with plaster and paint, as though marked out for destruction, not to prettify them. Something monstrous could emerge out of this mess of disabled angles and planes crawling out from underneath this elegantly executed staircase. Other rooms are filled with Barlow's sketches, similarly they look dashed off, rough suggestions, preparatory sketches for future sculptures. These drawings are an explorations in her imagination flying free of the limitations of actual three dimensional material. Barlow's work extends whilst working within the German expressionist tradition of Joseph Beuys, Dada assemblages and Art Povera. These are not comfortable works to find an easy relationship with.

Daisy Parris confronts the exhibition space in a different manner. Her exhibition's title work Fist Full of Dreams, is a series of textile carpet panels lashed together, made to Parris's design that they have embellished further afterwards, with their rough free hand embroidery of the surface or affixing slogan bearing cloth panels to them. Words, cloth and form sit in an uneasy juxtaposition as a partnership. The lurid quality of the paint colours, and slashy handling of it resist being called beautiful or delicate. Sometimes the slogans repeat till they fragment, or even become partially absorbed into the paint surface. All the works on display here were created in response to her visiting the hall and the room where they were to be exhibited. Some of the paintings fit neatly into the wall panels, others like Fist Full of Dreams defy such an easy incorporation into the appointed space, hung across a framework of pink painted scaffolding poles of its own making.  Hanging free of convention and stereotypical interpretation.

Both these exhibitions are well worth a visit, you don't get a chance to see modern work of this range and quality in Norfolk very often. Viewing is by appointment only, you can't just rock up expecting to be allowed entrance. Details are on their website.  https://wolterton.co.uk/art-and-culture/

CARROT REVIEW - 6/8