Claire Barclay works predominantly with sculpture and print practices and is internationally recognized for her large-scale installations informed by the contexts in which they temporarily exist. For example, ‘Thrum’, produced for MAC Belfast in 2022 and ‘Yield Point’, made in response to Tramway, Glasgow in 2017.
The mono-screen prints exhibited here are from a series titled ‘Paring Pressing’, that were included in Claire’s exhibition ‘Thrum’. They were created as unique rather than editioned print works, intended to speak to each other and to the sculptural works within the exhibition.
The artist - “I employ screenprinting in a very improvised way, often using cut paper to create simple motifs that are intuitively combined or overprinted to create more complexity. I use black ink to create shapes that seem to describe solid forms, and contrast these with layers of very transparent ink to create a sense of depth and fragility within the works. Screenprinting for me is a truly immediate and engaging form of making, as the process demands constant focus and spontaneous responses to images as they appear and evolve.
The works, despite their seeming simplicity, prompt subtle references to psychological relationships. They are suggestive of the body, or bodies, or parts of the body, or functions or movements of the body, and at the same time could also suggest inanimate functional objects. The combinations of geometric and abstract shapes perhaps trigger our inherent ability to anthropomorphize what we see, and seem able to communicate something ambiguous and sensitive about the intimacy between objects and beings. For example, the way a pointed corner touches and threatens to puncture something rounded, or the way a bold black shape is printed over and seems to dominate another.”
Claire graduated from Glasgow School of Art in the 1990’s and since then has exhibited widely. Notable exhibitions include, ‘Low Scenic’, 2003 Venice Biennale, ‘Openwide’, Fruitmarket Gallery, 2009, 'Shadow Spans', Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 2010, ‘Pale Heights', Mudam, Luxembourg 2009, and 'Fault on the right side', 2007, Kunstverein Braunschweig. Claire is represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.