untitled: holesstack - YCBA Collections Search

Phyllida Barlow, 1944-2023, British, untitled: holesstack, 2011

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Creator:: Phyllida Barlow, born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, 1944; active in England; died in London, England, 2023
Title:: untitled: holesstack
Date:: 2011
Materials & Techniques:: Plywood base, cement, steel mesh, scrim, paint
Dimensions:: Overall: 52 × 31 1/4 × 32 inches (132.1 × 79.4 × 81.3 cm)
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Gift of Judi Roaman and Carla Chammas
Accession Number:: B2023.5
Classification:: Sculptures
Collection:: Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:: abstract art
Access:: Not on view
Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:83913
Export:: XML
IIIF Manifest:: JSON

This strange object is difficult to decipher. Is it heavy or light? Durable or delicate? Although its form bears some resemblance to that of coral or rock, it is made of low-grade industrial materials, including cement and steel mesh, which Barlow commonly used in her work. In evoking both the organic and the industrial, the earthly and the alien, the piece has an uncanny quality that disrupts our assumed knowledge about the world. The artist placed the object on an angled tabletop, which lends the work a feeling of precarity, even suspense, and transforms its display into a performance in which the object may slide off at any moment.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025

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