Per
Barclay

Space is one of Norwegian artist Per Barclay’s great fascinations. The perception of space, the loss of logical bearings and the beauty of even the strangest sites are notions that he explores in his work, particularly by means of photography. In his photographs, and particularly in the Chambres d’huile series, where he uses motor oil, the artist likes to cover the site with such richly symbolic liquids as oil, wine, blood, water or milk. He has done this, for example, in a Sicilian palazzo, an industrial building outside Paris and a medieval chapel. His sites are characterised by the temporary or permanent absence of human beings, and many are abandoned. With his images, the artist saves these spaces, whose glory days seem far in the past, from being forgotten. Their beauty, even when in ruins, is fully affirmed by photography. Meanwhile, we are disoriented : now reflective, the floor becomes a mirror, repeating the interior, turning the ceiling into the floor. Light is multiplied, and the outside appears on the inside. Elements come together in a play of symmetry, modulation and chromatic effects, and are raised to a higher level by the photographer’s large-format prints.