In this new exhibition Simeon Barclay draws upon a rich vein of pop cultural sources, producing works that activate complex cultural histories, whilst exploring the ways in which we navigate identity, both imposed or self-curated. Combining a diverse range of media, Barclay creates reductive, sophisticated works that engage with aspects of aesthetics, British culture, subjectivity and memory.

After spending his formative years working in the manufacturing industry in the North of England, Barclay would attend night school, eventually obtaining an MFA from Goldsmiths University, London (UK). As a youth he became preoccupied with fashion, citing its vitality as a conduit for both embellishment and resistance. Fashion’s social and economic contexts were also relevant, providing a dichotomy between the artist’s fascination with Vogue magazine, a periodical whose glamour and theatricality provided aspirational imagery, and the stark contrast that was his everyday reality and life working in a factory. These insights would later foster the impetus for his involvement in various subcultural movements whose symbolic and alternative modes of expression defined themselves in opposition to social norms.