Phyllida Barlow was born in 1944 in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. She lives and works in London.

For more than 50 years, Phyllida Barlow has taken inspiration from her surroundings to create imposing installations that can be at once menacing and playful. She creates anti-monumental sculptures from inexpensive, low-grade materials such as cardboard, fabric, plywood, polystyrene, scrim and cement. ‘There’s something about walking around sculpture that has the possibility of being reflective, like walking through a landscape’. Barlow has said: ‘The largeness of sculpture has that infinite possibility to make one engage beyond just the object itself and into other realms of experience’.

Barlow’s most recent key solo exhibitions include a forthcoming solo presentation at Haus der Kunst, Munich (2021); ‘cul-de-sac’ at The Royal Academy of Arts, London (2019); ‘Phyllida Barlow: folly’, at La Biennale di Venezia, British Pavilion, Venice (2017); ‘ARTIST ROOMS: Phyllida Barlow’ at Turner Contemporary, Margate (2017); ‘demo’ at Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich (2016); ‘tryst’ at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2015); ‘set’ at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh (2015); ‘dock’ the Duveen Commission at Tate Britain, London (2014); ‘scree’, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines (2013).

Photo credit of Cat Garcia. © Royal Academy of Arts, London. Courtesy of Phyllida Barlow.