Simeon Barclay (born 1975) is a British multi-media artist. Born in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, he studied at

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univer ...

, and

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...

in London. Barclay's work includes mediums such as live performance, sculpture, painting, and neons. It addresses topics including gender expectations, race, unemployment, and British working class masculinity, and has been exhibited at venues including Cubitt Gallery,

South London Gallery The South London Gallery, founded 1891, is a public-funded gallery of contemporary art in Camberwell, London. Until 1992, it was known as the South London Art Gallery, and nowadays the acronym SLG is often used. Margot Heller became its direct ...

Yorkshire Sculpture Park The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barb ...

, and the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an modernism, artistic and cultural centre on The Mall (London), The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps a ...

Early life and education

Barclay was born in

, Yorkshire in 1975. While studying art in night school, he worked in manufacturing. In 2010 he received his degree from

, and he subsequently graduated from

in London in 2014.

Career

Barclay works in various mediums including live performance, sculpture, painting, and neons. His work explores ideas of belonging, gender expectations, race, unemployment, and British working class masculinity. Barclay's first solo exhibition in London was held at Cubitt Gallery in 2016. The next year he exhibited a show, ''The Hero Wears Clay Shoes'', at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

. In 2020 his work was included in the British Art Show 9. Barclay's 2021 show, ''England’s Lost Camelot'', focused on themes of black political resistance and folklore. His show ''In The Name Of The Father'' was exhibited at

in 2022. Eddy Frankel, Art & Culture Editor for '' Time Out'' magazine, wrote that the exhibition works to make the viewer feel the sense of alienation and exclusion that Barclay experienced growing up

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

in the north of England. It included the work ''Pittu Pithu Pitoo,'' described by ''

Art Monthly ''Art Monthly'' is a magazine of contemporary art founded in 1976 by Jack Wendler and Peter Townsend. It is based in London and has an international scope, although its main focus is on British art. The magazine is published ten times a year ( ...

'' as "a giant pile of boulders" that obstructs the view into the exhibition. When the work was included in London's Sculpture in the City in 2023, Frankel described the "sculpture of a chicken on its own little mini-mountain" as symbolising being an outsider, and a character on the periphery that isn't accepted. The work was unveiled as a new addition to

in 2024. Its form and title reference an Indian game, involving a ball and a pile of

seven stones ''Seven stones'' (also known by various Seven stones#Alternative names, other names) is a Traditional games of India, traditional game from the Indian subcontinent involving a ball and a pile of flat stones, generally played between two team ...

, played by the artist in his youth. Barclay's first performance work, ''The Ruin'', took place at London's

in January 2025. It was commissioned by the

Roberts Institute of Art The Roberts Institute of Art, formerly operating as David Roberts Art Foundation (DRAF), is a non-profit contemporary arts organisation based in London. It commissions pioneering performance art, collaborates with national partners on exhibitions ...

. Featuring Barclay's spoken words, plus musical accompaniment from horns and percussion, it dealt with the artist's memories of growing up in 1980s Huddersfield.

Frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

magazine described it as adding "visceral intimacy and vulnerability" to Barclay's practice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barclay, Simeon Artists from Huddersfield Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of Leeds Beckett University 1975 births Living people 21st-century British artists 21st-century British male artists Black British artists 21st-century Black British people