What’s hot right now? Australian ceramicist Glenn Barkley is the dude to know about, even though some don’t think so. But no matter how you feel about him, you must see this unforgettably vibrant catalog that documents his recent show at Utopia Art Sydney. If you are already a cfile.member, view the catalog, or begin your 30-day free trial today!
Above Image: Glenn Barkley, sameolsameol, 2016, 53 x 53 cm.
Glenn Barkley: itsallright
Barkley, Glenn
Sydney: Utopia Art Sydney, 2016
106 Pages
Like I mentioned above, Glenn Barkley’s work is impossible to forget. And there is a lot to say about it. Though you might just barely glance at his works on your newsfeed; regardless, one of his chunky, eyelet pots is sure to make an appearance in your dreams. I’m telling you. Once its wedged in there, it’s not leaving.
Maybe that permanence is the major success of these pieces. They are so uniquely themselves and so bold that they remain with you regardless of how you feel about them. This is the strategy of many advertising and publicity campaigns: create an unforgettable product, or create an unforgettable situation for a basic product. It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s enduring, or so absurd that we are driving to work just trying to figure out what it means. We can’t fault Barkley for channeling this method.
Click to Download your free sample of the Glenn Barkley: Itsallright catalog
Glenn Barkley, Same Ol’ Same Ol’, earthenware, 55 x 53 cm.
“I am still completely embedded in the art world, and I think these pots are like messages that can be read in the future– Ars longa, vita brevis. I worry about all the people doing kooky dancing, amateur house music, and post-internet art. Where will their work end up? To paraphrase Robert MacPherson its a fine line between the gallery and the rubbish dump.
“But I am part of this stupidity also. My only saving grace is that once fired pots are pretty fixed and its hard to get rid of them. You can destroy the form, buts it would take quite an effort to grind the bits back to powder.”
-Glenn Barkley, excerpt from the catalog essay
Glenn Barkley, Melancholic Gin-Shaped Bottle with Leaf Pattern, earthenware, 28 x 11 cm
These pots do just that. They are so conspicuously adorned with sgrafitto and squirmy little pieces that resemble something Timon and Pumba might find under a rock in the Lion King. In his review of the Utopia show, Cfile Chief Garth Clark makes the point that these works are at home at a contemporary art fair, not so much a craft fair. Welcome to the future! At a contemporary art fair they might even go unnoticed (maybe). Further, as ceramic debuts over and over again as a medium of fine art, we will see more and more work with Barkley’s je ne sais quoi.
Barkley is in no way an experienced clay guy. He was not a maker at all until quite recently; he was a curator prior, which explains the astute innocence that pervades this body of work. If you work with clay (or any art for that matter) you know that you can never replicate the candidness with which you handled the clay in your first ceramic months, years. Barkley’s work, the way Barkley sees it, is about the age we live in… about art and emotions in the Internet age.
Glenn Barkley, Bulb Vase, earthenware, 39 x 15 cm.
“If we treat Barkley’s work as art how does it fare? When I first saw it I wanted to hate it so badly. Much of the ceramics in art from newcomers to the medium are awful. And it raised that specter. His style or art is such that I usually have great affection for but happily my taste barriers are weakening, allowing me to enjoy more of what art delivers. I suppose what finally got me was the wit. His ceramics are cartoons that lampoon both sides of the art fence.
“A ceramics teacher I spoke to in Sydney dismissed his art because it was “naïve.” He was correct but not as a weakness. It’s Barkley’s strength, but it is also his Achilles heel. And hitting that innocent note without being pretentiously faux is a very delicate transaction. Get it right and his art is seditious, get it wrong and one has a piece of junk, which the artist understands.”
Glenn Barkley, The Wedding Song of Sun and Rain, earthenware, 34 x 38 cm
Glenn Barkley, Large Fluro Pot with Extruded Curlicues, earthenware, 56 x 40 cm.
No matter how you feel about him, you must see this unforgettably vibrant catalog that documents his recent show at Utopia Art Sydney. If you are already a cfile.member, view the catalog or begin your 30-day free trial today!
Click to Download your free sample of the Glenn Barkley: Itsallright catalog
It would appear that an ambitious Glen Barkley has quite the thin skin. While cashing in his Modern Art credentials for newly sought Rock Star status , Glen has discovered that not all clay workers are afraid to speak out. Maybe the age of his very small number of critics is proportional to their experience and a reflection of fearlessness in the face of the validators.Talking truth to power can come with pitfalls. As it stands he has little choice but to embrace the naive. The ” Fortress Walls ” are formidable. Not in their immovability but in their strength of design. Today’s Ceramic practice is nothing if not diverse and it is most definitely on the move. And Glen Barkley is a mover and a shaker. Worst Potter in Australia? Apparently not, but who’s to judge? Worst pots in Australia? Take away the status, take away the hype. Take away the celebrity and what is left? Rock Star? I don’t think so. Will the work speak to the future? To extend the musical metaphor a little further. The new wave of slop stackers mirrors the Punk music scene of the 70’s. Significant . A reaction to the over produced . A skill free zone. A fashion. We currently have the Sex pistols of Ceramics. Thumbing their noses at the establishment. More about them than their Art. In the background, the svengali of managers Malcolm McLaren. Not content with the manufacture of a movement, he wanted to be a player . If the job description required no talent, then he was over qualified. He wanted to be a Rock Star too, and he succeeded.To a point. The Glen Barkley of music. Did the music industry collapse? No. Do musicians still spend lifetimes perfecting their Art . Yes. Were the likes of Menuhin and Mozart artists? Of course. Did Punk Music create hype and cause change. Yes they did. Will this band of avant garde enfant terribles prove to be significant? Time will tell. Am I old. Yes. Am I bitter .No. Am I passionate ,most definitely. The big question is, is this a Bowie moment ? Or just plain Iggy?