Shedmesh 1976

Phyllida Barlow created this untitled sculpture, ‘Shedmesh’ from industrial materials like scrim and wood. It's a monumental cube, a dense aggregation of draped and bound fabric over a crude wooden framework. The rough texture and repetitive binding evoke a sense of both fragility and imposing scale. It creates a visual tension that provokes questions about our assumptions of form and structure. Barlow often challenges traditional notions of sculpture. This construction moves away from the polished surfaces of the established art world. Instead, she engages with the raw and the provisional. ‘Shedmesh’ questions the relationship between interior and exterior space, between concealment and exposure. The use of humble materials disrupts conventional notions of value. By exposing the process of construction, it reveals art as an act of making rather than a finished object. Barlow encourages us to see the potential for beauty and significance in the discarded and the overlooked.