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This special edition supported a major commission by Phyllida Barlow. Depicting an anomalous, vibrantly coloured structure, the edition is based on a drawing produced just prior to Barlow’s major solo exhibition cul–de–sac at the Royal Academy in 2019.

Barlow often describes sculptures as “dumb and silent and still” – even a nuisance, as a viewer must walk all the way around it. The same could be said for a street barrier, which Barlow frequently references in her sculptural installations and works on paper.

‘Pointer’ shows a marked change in the barrier, now on tall stilts and surrounded by its shadow. One can see the comparison to several sculptures in cul–de–sac, such as ‘untitled:blocksonstilts;2018-2019’ which featured three enormous white blocks, precariously perched atop wooden stilts, as if caught there after a high tide. Similarly, the lintel in ‘untitled:lintel;2018-2019’ has a dramatic shadow, rendered in cement. As in this edition, Barlow has given form to the elusive shadow, with a composition and permanence all its own.

Phyllida Barlow

Phyllida Barlow CBE RA is a British artist. Barlow studied at Chelsea College of Art and the Slade School of Art. After joining the staff in the late 1960s, Barlow taught at the Slade School of Art for more than forty years before retiring in 2009 and is now Emerita Professor of Fine Art.