Simeon Barclay: Pittu Pithu Pitoo
Art Outdoors /Simeon Barclay: Pittu Pithu Pitoo
Simeon Barclay works across sculpture, film, and mixed media installation. His work explores the ways we navigate and perform identity. He draws on a range of influences from cultural and social histories, such as folk tales, British and popular culture, and the concept of masculinity.
Pittu Pithu Pitoo acknowledges the history of sculptors originating from Yorkshire and the dramatic rock formations found in the landscape that inspired artists including Henry Moore. The work’s man-made materials both mimic and contrast with these natural forms, making us think about what is real in our environment.
The scale of the work creates a barrier and the artist asks us to consider the role of objects in dictating how we view the world. The cockerel encapsulates the position of being on the outside, or periphery, whether it be physical, psychological, or both.
The sculpture’s form and title relate to an ancient
traditional game from India that was played by the
artist in his youth. Played by two teams, it involves
a pile of seven precariously assembled stones and
a ball. The artists reflects that these cluster or
layers not only speak to the sediment that forms
our environment but points to the way that as
humans we accumulate knowledge.
This work is an object that oscillates between being a landmark to history, place and time, and a comic monument that through different installations and environments functions between being out of its depth or being physically imposing.
- Simeon Barclay
Simeon Barclay (b.1975) was born in Huddersfield and studied at Leeds Metropolitan University and Goldsmiths, London. He has exhibited internationally in Amsterdam, Vienna, and New York, and has work in public collections including the Arts Council Collection.
Courtesy of the artist and Workplace, UK.
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