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Unnamed Neon 2, Neon light on perspex, 2015
Unnamed Neon 2, 2016Courtesy of Claire Barrow

The Art of Claire Barrow: Finding Joy in Dystopia

The evocative designer gives AnOther the lowdown on her inaugural solo art show ahead of its opening next week

Lead ImageUnnamed Neon 2, 2016Courtesy of Claire Barrow

It was just two months ago that British designer Claire Barrow provocatively staged her Autumn/Winter 2016 collection as a faux art exhibition, The Retro-Spective, at London's ICA. In it, a diverse cast of models occupied plinths in hand-painted silk dresses, oversized sweatshirts and dresses punkishly fastened with elbow-length gloves in the manner of living, breathing sculptures, flanked by classical gold plaques captioning each look-cum-artwork.

The premise of the presentation was, in fact, spurred on by a larger ongoing project – Barrow’s solo art show debut – which opens next week at M. Goldstein Gallery in Hackney. When I meet Barrow at a café around the corner her east London flat, she’s decked out in ochre-coloured corduroy dungarees and a shrunken Sonic Youth T-shirt that bare the painterly hallmarks of her latest labour of love. "Oh shit, sorry, I’m totally covered in paint," she remarks, before settling into her seat and ordering a cool beer. "I’m actually really enjoying just painting at the moment and losing myself in the process every day," she adds. "It’s been good for me!"

In sharp contrast to the furious six-week turnaround of a seasonal fashion collection, Barrow has been preparing The Bed, The Bath & The Beyond for almost a year now – which, she notes, "allows for a much better incubation period". To start, as she always starts, "traditionally, like I was taught at art college" the designer set herself a brief. "It sounds a bit weird, but I was thinking a lot about my own mortality, which led me to this theme of cleanliness and godliness, examined through everyday cleansing rituals and also consumerism," she explains. "Without being too cliché, it became a really personal journey and the show is very personal. I don’t have that much faith, and I was questioning why that was. Why it was that I feel so angry about the way in which this country is run, and why people have become so narcissistic in a digital era."

Her train of thought manifests in various forms throughout the exhibit, which takes place in a small but lofty room with buffed concrete floors. The neo-naïve, mythical creatures that have become a fiendish but loveable signature in Barrow’s eponymous label reappear in drawings and expressive gouache paintings on large canvases, as well as in neon signage mounted on perspex to resemble "digital spirits". They also grace odd pieces of ephemera which further riff on the theme – a shower curtain and an unravelled toilet roll, for example – which hangs defiantly across the ceiling of the space. Here, Barrow talks in greater detail about the show, the damage of digitalisation and her ever-evolving creative process.

On how the show came about...
"I had worked with Nathanial [Lee-Jones of M.Goldstein Gallery] a few times before on my first canvases. He just asked me if I'd like to create some paintings for the space, as it's usually filled with antiques and the odd piece of modern art. It's the first show he's had in that space that is purely dedicated to one artist, which is really special. I feel very lucky actually, how many 25-year-olds are offered that?"

On her exploration of neon signage... 
"There are quite a few neon works in the show. I love the glow that neon emits, as though it's a spirit or has a spiritual presence. It's funny because neon is quite a traditional reference in modern art now. I think the creation of a neon work is beautiful in itself – which you have to design and send to a factory to be made, similar to a piece of clothing. The neons in the exhibit are all white, they are quite clinical... a holy ghost. Again, it relates back to the idea of cleansing."

On working in diverse new mediums... 
"I wanted everything to reflect and I wanted to make sure there was lots of movement in the room so it feels as though everything has its own spirit. There's metallic in the canvases, there's neon. I like that it feels quite cartoonish as well – joyful, not uplifting, because it's not very optimistic. It's important to me that my work feels new and moves forwards."

On the inspiration behind her 'characters'... 
"I never really reference other art, it's always more about my own feelings. I've got a bit of a problem with nostalgia at the moment, everyone talks about it too much. I feel like people live in the past, and I don't want to do that. When I first started this project, I was thinking about Renaissance paintings with the visions of hell from a Christian perspective, and I suppose that may have influenced a few of the characters initially, but it developed into its own thing."

On the pitfalls of being a creative polymath...
"There is always the worry that people won't take my art seriously because I'm a fashion designer, and I haven't trained in that discipline. But then what is taken seriously as art? What is art and what is not anymore? Art is different because it's not on the body. It's more confrontational and direct. Also, in fashion there tend to be far more people involved in the process, from the manufacturing to the model that wears the piece in the show. Fashion is more collaborative for me, so it's nice to be in my own headspace."

On why we should disconnect from our phones... 
"It worries me that we're all absolutely addicted to our phones, and I feel like there's no way out of it. It's a very narcissistic way of living. So, I like to ask lots of questions in my work, like, 'what can I do to challenge this in some way?' Or, 'why are we living like this?' But, I suppose these become questions that I interpret and ask myself."

Claire Barrow: The Bed, The Bath & The Beyond is on show at M.Goldstein Gallery until April 24, 2016.