I’d like to think I can represent all those artists who heroically have kept going and are successful, but are not recognised or acclaimed.
—Phyllida Barlow
Can it be true, as some say:
Old women are replacing young men in the art world
We can at least hope!
After having been overlooked for decades, the art world has finally woken up to Phyllida Barlow’s audacious, gargantuan sculptures. Now she is representing Britain at the Venice Biennale – but why did it take so long for her to be discovered???
Part of the answer—as in many other parts of the labor market and society at large—is simple sexism. Men have long – much too long – dominated the art world, from galleries to museums to criticism, but maybe we now are witnessing a change?
In an interview with The Telegraph Barlow says:
‘I’m suspicious of success … but there are ways of being successful that are private. Achieving public recognition and approval – that seems to me a very small part of being successful … Success happens in all sorts of ways. There’s sensational success. There’s youth success. And there’s the lifetime success of an artist keeping going, against hell and high water.’
sub rosa 
My interpretation may be off but I like the balcony in the first image … so connotative and reminds me to see things from different points of view …
Agree 🙂
Thank you for sharing this! It really blows my mind and makes me very happy to see her work not because she is a woman per say but because she is an artist who has a vision that would definitely be considered “not relevant” in a world that loves grandeur, ego and pathos. It is making me think of a lot of things.
I happened to scroll down and click on this – and I absolutely love it. I wasn’t aware of her – the U.S. is very US-centric I guess. And I’m not keeping up! But I love her work, and the video, so thank you. I agree with Rio above as well. There were so many things she said (I looked at a second video too) that are intelligent, how refreshing!
🙂