EXHIBITIONS
Simeon Barclay: Life Room
08.02.19 - 29.03.19
The Holden Gallery is delighted to present Simeon Barclay’s first solo exhibition in Manchester. Barclay – whose work operates at the intersection of contemporary art, fashion, music and popular culture – will present a survey of existing work alongside new work which will include a response to the historic collections at Manchester School of Art.
Barclay’s work draws on an ongoing interest in how we develop our sense of self, how culture and tradition, as well as personal experience, shape our identities. In his youth, Barclay became fascinated with Vogue magazine, its glamour and theatricality, providing aspirational imagery in stark contrast with the everyday reality of life in small-town West Yorkshire. Furthermore, Barclay’s background in manufacturing – having worked at a factory for 16 years – feeds into his practice, informing his glossy aesthetic and use of industrial fabricating techniques. Through these seemingly disparate and contradictory influences, Barclay encourages the breaking of rigid societal boundaries and challenges expectations of identity, gender, race, class and heritage.
Barclay will produce new work in response to the North West Film Archive and the Slide Library at the Visual Resource Centre, both part of the Library Services Special Collections at Manchester Metropolitan University. The exhibition title Life Room was inspired by the film A Visit to An Art School, made in 1929 and based at Manchester School of Art, which is in the North West Film Archive.
Features and Reviews
Creative Tourist (Sara Jaspan, March 2019)
Corridor 8 Review (Jazmine Linklater, March 2019)
- Simeon Barclay, Life Room Installation view
- Simeon Barclay, Gatefold Series: I Wish I Knew Then What I Know Now, 2016 and What a Charming Name for a Dog, 2014
- Simeon Barclay, After the Missed, 2018
- Simeon Barclay, There's A Future In It, 2019
