BARNABY BARFORD

"I make art to make sense of the world and my place within it. Whether it is words, shops, or the apple, I fully immerse myself. I think through making, answering questions and gaining clarity through rigorous repetition and investigation." Barnaby Barford

Working across drawing, sculpture, film, installation and painting, Barford uses familiar iconography such as the humble Apple, to subvert the telling of ancient cautionary tales within a contemporary context. Whilst a witty cultural critique characterised his early porcelain figurines, his more recent sculptures, drawings and digital paintings construct layered narratives through repetition and accumulation.

 In Barford’s large-scale Word Drawings, abstract pictures are made by writing the same word over and over again. By incessantly repeating words such as Hope, Glory, Truth and Love, Barford asks us to reevaluate their meaning in today’s complex socio-cultural environment. Although Barford produces work in a wide variety of materials, he consistently returns to ceramics. By using processes inherent to industrial manufacturing, he works with an accumulation of ceramic pieces to create works such as the monumental Tower of Babel (V&A 2015), The Apple Tree (2019) and The Seven Deadly Sins (2013). Whether using shops, apples, flowers or words, throughout his work, Barford holds up a mirror to society, prompting us to look again and reflect upon inequalities, obsessions and systems of belief.

Barnaby Barford (b.1977) has been represented by David Gill Gallery, London since 2004. He has exhibited internationally with major solo shows across Europe and the US, including a survey show at MOCA Virginia (2013). His work is part of many public and private collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas, and the National Libraries of France and the Netherlands. 

‘Barnaby Barford is brilliantly puckish and something of an agent provocateur. By seduction and guile, his work exposes us to our inner frailties, prejudices and desires, holding up a mirror to us both metaphorically, as well – on occasion – as physically. Few are so incisive and insightful.’ Alun Graves, Senior Curator of Ceramics and Glass Collection at the V&A.

WORKS