Barnaby Barford is an artist and filmmaker who works primarily with ceramics to create unique narrative pieces. He works with both mass-market and antique found porcelain figurines, reworking them to create sculptures which are often sinister and sardonic but invariably humorous. With irony, he draws a portrait of our contemporary lives. Through these unique works, Barford explores all aspects of our society, following in the tradition of Hogarth, Chaucer, Dickens and Shakespeare; with a dark sense of English humour and satire, Barford’s work explores and celebrates the human condition.
Enjoying the rest of the World Cup. Working on a proposal for a new film and installation and doing some new sculptures.
My Mum’s pretty knowledgeable about what I do actually, she’s always been really supportive.
My Dad, Grandad, Great Grandad etc etc.
Sight for working life and also taste for pure enjoyment – can I have two?
I would have loved to have been a Rally Driver.
Yes a tremendous amount.
I get a lot of dotted red lines under words when I type so a fair few actually!
There are more languages spoken in London than in any other city in the world.
Making some new sculptures, in clay this time, rather than using found objects and looking for funding for a new film. Finding a gallery to work with in New York and or L.A.
Keep going until Plan A works.
I am a huge fan of Richard Slee’s work, he is one of Britain’s most important contemporary ceramic artists. His work attempts to challenge every conventional notion of that genre. He has a show at Hayles Gallery, London which finishes on the 17th July a must see!
One of the great Czech filmmakers, Jan Svankmajer was born in 1934 in Prague where he still lives. Svankmajer made his first film in 1964 and for over thirty years has made some of the most memorable and unique animated films ever made, gaining a reputation as one of the world’s foremost animators, and influencing filmmakers from Tim Burton to The Brothers Quay. His brilliant use of claymation reached its apotheosis with the stunning 1982 film Dimensions of Diagloue. In 1987 Svankmajer completed his first feature film, Alice, a characteristically witty and subversive adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
A fantastic show, quite indescribable, live music mixed with overhead projector animation. They describe themselves as Sci-Fi Cartoon Jazz Music. I saw them at the Barbican in May. Upcoming events are listed on their MySpace page and are playing at Latitude and Barbican during July.
I have only recently discovered Elodie’s work. I saw a film she made entitled After the Empire at the Basel Art Fair. A well constructed, memorable piece that was highly amusing too. In this video, face-to-face conversations between late icons of popular culture and political and historical heroes – including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Batman & Robin, Karl Marx – are orchestrated. Surrounded by a post-apocalyptic set, the actors embody their character‘s individual and symbolic extremes, longings, and ideals in simultaneously humorous and elegiac ways.
Hilarious, cut up and re-editing of speech. Best known for their CassetteBoy vs. The Apprentice but there is some classic audio only stuff too.
