- Artist:
- Per Barclay
- Date:
- 2002
- Technique:
- Black and white photograph
- Dimensions:
- 190,2 x 120,2 cm
- Origin:
- Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma
- Registration number:
- 624
- Edition:
- 3/3
Bailarina (Catherine), a two-tone photograph, reveals the search for the sculptural qualities of the body which the Norwegian creator embarked on in 2002 in a series of large-format images with dance as the central theme. The nude or semi-nude helps him to intensify the sculptural effect and evoke things timeless, reinforced by the neutral background. The dancer displays a defiant attitude which leads to an intentional psychological tension that is reinforced by the stains that cover her and are also one of the artist’s characteristic resources. Reproduced on a large scale in a close-up that confronts us with an aggressive pose, Barclay reinforces the expressive element, building up the desired sculptural three-dimensionality.
S.H.
Per Barclay studied art history and completed his studies in Italy until 1994, and then settled in Paris, where he now lives. A multidisciplinary artist who works on sculpture, photography and installation, his installations – produced inside and outside of buildings – are characterised by the intervention of liquid elements such as water or oil, and photography, sometimes as a record of his interventions, and sometimes conceived as a sculpture, are two of the mainstays on which he articulates his work. In the case of photography, this medium is a means of achieving an end; what is really important for this creator is the result, not the technique itself. His photos reflect on the human condition which, according to him, tends towards violence, towards competition with its fellows. Works that are born of the gaze of a sculptor, as he himself indicates.
He has exhibited at the Fondazione Merz (Turin, 2008), the Palacio de Cristal in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2003), the Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea (San Sebastián, 2002), the CCC Centre de Création Contemporaine in Tours (France, 2001) and the Venice Biennale (1990), among others. His work forms part of national and international collections like the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), Fundación Telefónica (Madrid), Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain (Nice, France) and the Bergen Kunstmuseum (Bergen, Norway).
S.H.
