The Guardian has awarded Phyllida Barlow: Disruptor at Wolterton four stars in a major review by Charlotte Jansen.
The exhibition brings together works spanning five decades of Phyllida Barlow’s practice across the Palladian interiors and grounds of Wolterton Hall.
Curated by Simon Oldfield with guest curator Clare Lilley, the exhibition sets Barlow’s raw, provisional materials against Wolterton’s 18th-century grandeur. Jansen revels in the collision: an explosive mass of red plywood chairs greets visitors at the entrance; the latex-coated Loaf is “maybe even a little bit sexy”; rough wall works interrupt the formal interiors; and Barlow’s drawings animate the stripped-back former portrait gallery, where historic builders’ marks have been newly revealed. She describes the resulting encounter between Barlow’s work and the house as “electric and a bit cheeky”.
The exhibition is praised not only for the strength of Barlow’s work but for the way it transforms the experience of the house itself. Jansen writes that Oldfield has “reinvented the space”, making room for new ideas to take over, and describes his vision for Wolterton as distinct from that of comparable historic estates.
Jansen concludes with a broader reflection on the possibilities of places such as Wolterton: that historic spaces can be renewed through “imagination, wit and charm.”
Read the full review in The Guardian.