Barnaby Barford

From the witty cultural critique that characterised the early porcelain figurines to the more recent social commentary of installations and drawings, Barnaby Barford uses familiar iconography to subvert the telling of ancient cautionary tales within a contemporary context. His research explores the fundamental questions driving human nature in terms of morality, conflict between good or evil, lack of happiness, and society’s incessant need for growth.

Although Barford produces work in a wide variety of materials, he consistently returns to ceramics, utilising mass and industrial production processes. From the monumental sculptures composed of thousands of individual ceramic pieces to the large-scale energetic word drawings that repeat incessantly the same word, his pieces are a labour intensive accumulation of fragments that gain meaning in their totality.

In recent years, Barford has become obsessed with the Apple and has been looking at the world through its lens, using the humble fruit to explore fundamental questions driving human nature, especially our anxiety afflicted society and our incessant need for More.