Per Barclay

PER BARCLAY (Oslo, 1955).
"The slaughter house", 1996.
Type C photograph of the installation created.
Provenance: private collection. Formerly Oliva Arauna Gallery (Inver-Kalis SA).
Measurements: 205 x 165 cm.
With the installation "The Slaughterhouse", Per Barclay played with the reflective effect of the blood of the cattle, making the floor shine. In the same way that in other installations he deployed symbolisms of the disturbing effects of spilled oil in uninhabited spaces, here the references are multiplied: nods to the history of art, but also to the idea of sacrifice and violence.
Per Barclay is a sculptor, photographer and art historian. His art installations have been seen in museums all over the world. Per Barclay's work combines concepts of tension and drama, which he works with the influence of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. After studying art history in Bergen, in 1979 he left Norway to find new artistic references in Italy. In Florence he studied design and photography, then moved to the Academy of Bologna in 1981 and two years later to Rome. After spending time in Naples, he moved to Turin, where he came into direct contact with the artists of Arte Povera. From then on, the artist used oil and water as pictorial elements, and steel and glass as structural materials for his pieces. In 1994 he moved to Paris, where he lives and develops his projects. His works can be found, among others, in the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, the Henie-Onstad Art Centre, in the museum of contemporary art "Kiasma" in Helsinki and in different museums in Spain (Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía), Italy and France (Centre de Création Contemporaine). He participated in the Venice Biennale in 1990, in the Lillehammer Art Museum during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994, in the Bergen International Festival in 2001 and the Northern Norwegian Festival in 2009, and has contributed to the international project Skulpturlandskap Nordland.