Anna Barriball (b. 1972, Plymouth, UK) lives and works in London. After attending Falmouth School of Art (1991/92) she received her BA from Winchester School of Art (1992–95) and her MFA from Chelsea College of Art in London (1999/2000). She had a solo exhibition at the Villa Stuck in Munich in 2013 and the year before at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh. Her work was recently shown in surveys of contemporary drawing at the Albertina in Vienna (Drawing Now) and at S.M.A.K. in Ghent (The Bottom Line), and in the exhibition Apparitions, Frottages and Rubbings (Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and Menil Collection, Houston). In 2018 she had a major exhibition at the Centre Pasquart in Biel with an extensive catalogue.
At the centre of Anna Barriball’s practice are drawing and working with paper. Sculptural works and video installations are also part of her practice. She examines everyday, often overlooked objects such as doors or windows. With graphite or silver paint she produces elaborate frottages of such architectural elements, pressing them inch by inch in situ into the soft paper until their form and texture are imprinted. Because of this process Barriball’s paper works have a relief quality that gives them a certain sculptural character.
Likewise, walls and doors form a boundary between the visible and the invisible, between inside and outside. The architectural fragment is also detached from context and function, making it an ambiguous (sculptural) form. This evokes associations or memories of feelings linked to particular spatial situations.
Source: Kunstmuseum Basel | Dr. Anita Haldemann
Image: Anna Barriball | Video still Fruitmarket Gallery
