Charlie Barlow
Peterborough
Artist
Charlie's practice begins through a haptic relationship with ‘boundary objects’ – everyday commodities that signify system, order and containment – and grows by exaggerating these items to a point where they both retain and go beyond their original form. Animated creatures and disorientating landscapes made from inert readymades such as latex gloves, toilet rolls and bin bags playfully shift basic definition and meaning into a messy, mystical space with multiple metaphors. Emphasised material qualities – colour, texture, shape, scent, movement, time – create a disruptive experience highlighting camouflaged societal power structures which impact sense of self and problematic notions of 'the Other'. With no respect for norms, these beings infiltrate public space and soil sanitary galleries, confusing the categories of sculpture, performance, painting and rubbish. Unsettled status, perplexed value and blurred artificiality prompt consumerist questioning and environmental implications. Elements of works are produced in the studio as composition is realised during installation - a change in environment acts as a point of discovery for both the materiality of things in space and associative significance, flexible to shift with location. Destruction is an inevitable aspect of the work, displacing the function of such objects as commodities in order to form tangible transitory experiences.
Education
2016-2018 MA Fine Art with Distinction - Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London
2011-2014 BA Fine Art with First Class Honours - Norwich University of the Arts, Norwich
Residencies / Awards
2018 Artist in Residence, Academy for Visual Arts, HKBU, Hong Kong
2017 Clare Winsten Memorial Award, Slade School of Fine Art, London
2016 Slade Bursary, Slade School of Fine Art, London
2017 Artist in Residence, DYAD Creative, Norwich
2015 Arts Internship, Vivacity, Peterborough ?
2014 Leverhulme Arts Scholarship, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge
Selected Exhibitions
Solo
2017 Touch to Voice - Dove Street Studios, Norwich
Group
2020 Love Light Festival - Norwich
2019 Just Putting It Out There - Harts Lane Studios, London
Tate Staff Biennale - Tate Modern, London
All Work and All Play - Air Gallery, Altrincham
The Clunker - Playhouse Bar, Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Norwich
The Nomenclature of Colours - Slade Research Centre, UCL, London
2018 The Tortoise Will Reverse Itself - Academy for Visual Arts, HKBU, Hong Kong
Inside Job - Tate Modern, London
Platform 1 - Bloomsbury Theatre, London
2017 The Clunker - Playhouse Bar / Anteros Arts Foundation, Norwich
Authentic Tongues - Bloomsbury Theatre, London
MEMEMEME - Crypt Gallery, London
2016 Live Art - Wymondham, Norfolk
BAS8 Takeover - NUA, Norwich
In Loving Memory - Geddes Gallery, London
Scratch Performances - Anteros Arts Foundation, Norwich
Wash Your Dirty Linen In Public - Peterborough City Gallery
2015 Peterborough Arts Festival - Peterborough
Shades of Yellow - Embassy Tea Gallery, London
Secret Circus - The Key Theatre, Peterborough
2014 LAS Public Presentation - Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire
Art Car Boot Fair - Redwell Brewery, Norwich
In Loving Memory - Stew Gallery, Norwich
Process - Stew Gallery, Norwich
Fourteen - The Fabric Warehouse, Norwich
2013 NUA - Firstsite, Essex
Aience - NUA, Norwich
No Working Title - Tate Modern, London
Selected Lectures / Workshops
2018 Visiting Lecturer, Norwich Univerity of the Arts
2017 Workshop Leader, Bath Spa University
2015 Workshop Leader, Beach Babies Nursery, Cambridge
Additional Relevant Employment (Part-time & Freelance)
2019 GCSE Teacher - The Complete Works, London
2017 (Current) Visitor Assistant - Tate Gallery, London
2017-2020 Invigilator - Blain Southern Gallery, London
2016-2017 Short Course Studio Assistant - Slade School of Art, London
Additional Experiences
2019 Artist performer for Yarli Allison A Wave of Garden Things Falls on U - The Arcade Museum, Letchworth Garden City
2016 Artist performer for Caroline Wright in On the Wing - Anglesey Abbey, Cambridge
2015 Artist assistant for Matt Lewis, performer in Wain Procession, waitress for Lucy and Jorge Orta’s 70 x 7 The Meal – Peterborough Harvest Festival (organised by Metal)
2015 Member of curatorial team - NUA Degree Show, Norwich
2013 Invigilator - Outpost Gallery, Norwich
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