North facing Margate is a bit disorientating as it looks back towards the Isle of Sheppey and the Essex coastline beyond. If you look out to sea you’re facing Norway, France is behind you.
We’re seeing a lot of Phyllida Barlow’s work – she’s representing the UK in the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale, has work in Cambridge University group show Sculpture in the Close, and won the Hepworth Gallery’s inaugural Prize for Sculpture last year. Her work is very satisfying – it’s big, distinctive and provides a genuine spectacle, and the inspiring back story of the artist herself offers hope and encouragement to those working on the arts whose practice seems out of step with the prevailing trends.
