SIMEON BARCLAY - The London-based, northern artist defies expectations in both his life and work

In Simeon Barclay's recent exhibition at Cubitt, 'They Don't Like

It Up 'Em, the cartoon character Andy Capp follows you around

the room. Rendered in neon, he lingers in the reflective surfaces

of the exhibition's other works, a constant reminder of the sort

of regressive working-class identity that Barclay defies through

his work. Capp represents the negative stereotype ofworkingclass identity, a backwards-looking, narrow-minded figure,

standing in opposition to those like Barclay who aspire to escape

the expectations of being working class. In Barclay's case, these

aspirations are made concrete through his practice.

Simply through being an artist Barclay defies working-class

expectations, in a climate where artistic practice seems more

and more of a luxury for those who can afford to study art and

the uncertain prospects of earning a living that typically follow.

However, Barclay provides a conflicted voice; he is at once the

northerner heading down to London to put it 'up 'em' as well as the

artist who references fashion and theatre alongside more typically

masculine, working-class pursuits such as sport. Much of Barclay's

work lives on this knife-edge, such as in Winner Takes All, 2016, a

three-panel construction of blue acrylic featuring an image of a rugby player straining

to catch the ball juxtaposed with an image of Kate Bush, who positions her body in a

similar pose.

This particular image trates Barclay's interest in gender

boundaries; the rugby player and Bush may find themselves in similar poses, but

they could not look more different, he representing masculinity with his mud-covered

kit and straining muscles, she presenting an effortlessly graceful pose. Included in

the thrust oftheir frames they cut new forms, 2016, is an image of the actre

Maxine Peake as Hamlet, her androgynous appearance suggesting a less binary

attitude towards gender. This is developed further when Barclay looks at masculinity

specifically and the apparent risks of breaking away from traditionally masculine

appearance and behaviour.

Again within Winner Takes All - demonstrating the depth of material found in his

work, despite its minimal aesthetic - Barclay presentsan image of the 'Spice Boys',

aka Liverpool FC's team in the mid to late 1990s. The image shows them at their

most notorious, dressed in matching white Armani suits ahead of the 1996 FA Cup

al, which they would go on to lose to thei ivals Manchester United.The

suits live on in infamy as being representative of an overly cocky attitude, somehow

contributing to the loss. Relaxed and dandyish, the players in the image seer

akin to Peake or Bush than the rugby player, and the implication is that the negative

attention that they attracted was in part due to their t straying from traditional

masculine appearance and behaviour. On top of this, the image plays into Barclay's

class politics, with footballers typically coming from working-class backgrounds and,

as such, finding themselves easier targets of negative press and public opinion.

The Spice Boys are an example of another thread running through the work, that

of the tragic, Icarus-like figure, often an athlete, experiencing great success but also

failure, apparently due to their own flamboyance. With the Gatefold Series: IWish I Knew

Then What I KnowNow, 2016, it is Diego Maradona, perhaps the greatest footballer to

ever play the game, yet equally well known for his cocaine and doping problems, and,

particularly in England, as a cheat, which Barclay refers to here with an image of the

infamous 'hand of God' episode.While in earlier works the role was assumed by Eric

Cantona or snooker player Alex Higgins, among others, notorious as much as successful

individuals who reached the top oftheir profession only for their own flamboyance or

temper to undo them. These are figures who could not help but express themselves

in the way they played their respective games, but the desire for freedom and creative

expression could lead to failure and public scorn. With the risks inherent in pursuing a

career in art, it is not so surprising that Barclay should identify with these personalities.

Gatefold Series is a particularly multi-layered piece,

a triptych consisting of Barclay's typical industrially

manufactured panels, sparsely adorned with the 'hand of God

image,a brass plaque featuring the outline of a hand and the

barely visible text 'SLIGHT'. At once it is a portrait of a mar

becoming iconic as he transcends his sport by transcending

the rules of the game with his illegal goal, a pun on 'sleight of

hand', and a moment of victory against colonial power. Barclay

refers to his Afro-Caribbean heritage as informing the latter

interpretation, the position of the underdog being reversed,

rather than the world's greatest player resorting to cheating in

order to win, it is a moment of cunning that humiliates the old

colonial power.

While Barclay's ethnic background hasa presence

his practice, he nonetheless works against the cultural

expectations of being a black artist, resisting the pigeonholing that can be forced upon artists from ethnic minority

backgrounds. This is perhaps a luxury afforded to him

as an artist following the ground broken by those who

preceded him, but it also connects with his desire to defy the

expectations of being working class, to read Vogue as well as

to watch football, to practise art rather than continue to work

in engineering production. In all areas, Barclay strives to defy

external expectations.

e aesthetic of Gatefold Series is typical of Barclay's

'structures', as he refers to them: industrially manufactured

panels, often in groups of twos or threes, adorned primarily

with pop culture imagery. This gives the work a minimalistpop aesthetic, with their austere uniform surfaces interrupted

by the images pasted on, the roughness of which is the only

indication of the hand of the artist. There is a distinct lack of

fuss where the images are concerned, pulled from the most

immediate source to hand, often Google, and unless the work

specifically calls for it, little regard given to the quality of the

resolution. This creates a scrapbook, or bedroom-wall effect,

heightening the personal in contrast to the industrial surface

they are found on and allowing the viewer a tangible feeling of

the artist's presence.

The choice of colour and finish of the surfaces can be

equally as important as what is applied to them, such as the

mirrored surfaces of The Physical Weight, 2016, Winner Takes

All, The smell isn't righteous, 2016, and With the thrust of their

frames they cut new forms, the pieces that make up the bulk

of his Cubitt exhibition. These mirrored surfaces not only

invite the viewer into the piece, but also allow the pieces

themselves to interact, most notably with the aforementioned

Andy Capp neon Handicap, 2016. With the relatively small

space that Cubitt provides, and the addition of a looping disco

soundtrack, this created an artistic environment for the viewer

to be immersed within.

Hard-edged and uniformly shaped within their groupings,

the surfaces for Barclay's 'structures' hold a minimalist appeal

They are industrially manufactured objects, but they have

been manufactured with care, a manifestation of the material

luxury Barclay aspired to when reading Vogue in his youth.

Barclay's imagery, however, takes the work beyond abstract

material appeal, demonstrating a visual wit but also combining

apparently disparate concepts to tell multi-layered narratives

about our society and the artist's place within it.