Sukhi Barber - Artist's Statement
Sukhi Barber was born in 1971, in Hertfordshire, England. From an early age she was drawn to the classical and ancient traditions of art and philosophy, which led her to undertake a traditional sculptural training at The City and Guilds of London Art School. There she gained a firm grasp of figurative clay modeling and life drawing, graduating in 1995 with the prize for sculpture, and a scholarship from Madame Tussauds.
After graduation Sukhi traveled to India, captivated by the timeless quality of peace and balance that she found in the art of Asia. Settling in Kathmandu, Nepal, she spent the next twelve years studying Buddhist philosophy and producing sculptures based on the traditional techniques of stone carving and lost-wax bronze casting.
Sukhi's sculptures are intended to bridge the cultures of East and West. Embodying the peace and compositional balance of ancient devotional art, they represent complex philosophical ideas with a simplicity and clarity that renders them accessible on an intuitive level. Exploring themes of hidden potentials, and the transcendence of our limiting view of a solid reality, her work often represents the negative space as being as important as the material itself, implying the dance of form and spirit, a constant state of transformation.
Education
2000 - 2007 Studying, and working, in traditional techniques of lost-wax bronze casting, Patan, Kathmandu, Nepal
1996 Apprenticeship in traditional soapstone carving, Mahabalipuram. India
1992 - 1995 City and Guilds of London Art School, Kennington, London Fine Art Sculpture, under Allan Sly
1990 - 1991 Cambridge Arts Tutors, Cambridge, Art Foundation Course
Exhibitions and Installations (selected):
2016 Installation, Church of St.Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London, UK
2016 Installation, Art MoorHouse, Moorgate, London, UK
2015 'Shade of Ink', Asia & Pacific Museum, Warsaw, Poland
2015 Artelier, Rizon Jet lounge, Biggin Hill Airport, London, UK
2015 'Sculpture Line' outdoor exhibition, City of Prague, Czechoslovakia
2013 Internationale Kunstausstellung, Burg Kalteneck, Germany
2013 Kunstmomente in Le Meridien, Edition Strassacker, Stuttgart, Germany
2012 Art Karlsruhe (Galerie du Fleuve, Paris) Karlsruhe, Germany
2012 'Sphäre der Leere' BBK, Stuttgart, Germany (Solo)
2011 Kunstbox, Dortmund, Germany
2011 Salon International du Val d'Or, Meillant, France
2011 Galerie Kunsthalle St. Moritz, St. Moritz, Switzerland
2011 Salon d'art édition 2011, Saint-André des Eaux, France
2010, 2011 Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, UK
2010, 2012, 2013 'Art en Capital', Le Salon des Artistes Français, Grand Palais, Paris, France
2010, 2011 'Natur-Mensch', Nationalpark Harz, Sankt Andreasberg, Germany
Galleries (selected):
Pontone Gallery, Chelsea, London, UK
Galerie Artmundi, Place des Vosges, Paris, France
Vecchiato Arte, Padova, Italy
Albemarle Gallery, Piccadilly, London, UK (Solo)
Galerie Gottschick, Tübingen, Germany (Solo)
Galerie Hajek, Stuttgart, Germany
Gallery Cafmeyer, Knokke, Belgium
Mokspace, London, UK
Galerie Mark Hachem, Place des Vosges, Paris, France
Galerie Roy Sfeir, St.Germain, Paris, France
Gallery 101 Exhibit, Miami, USA
Gallery Mona Lisa, Paris, France (solo)
Broadway Gallery, Soho, New York, USA
Awards:
2012 Le Salon des Artistes Français, bronze medal for sculpture, 'Art en Capital', Grand Palais, Paris, France
2011 Salon International du Val d'Or, 1st prize for sculpture, Meillant, France
1995 Scholarship prize from Madame Tussauds
1995 City and Guilds of London Art School, sculpture prize
Commissions (selected) :
2009 Seed Syllables OM AH HUM The DeLaszlo Foundation, private collection of Damon DeLaszlo, Hampshire, UK
1999 A Stone Called Om Carved in 'Nepali black stone', Kathmandu, Nepal The DeLaszlo Foundation, private collection of Damon DeLaszlo, Hampshire, UK
1998 Bust portrait of Dr.Albert Hofmann, discoverer of LSD, private collection of Hofmann family, Basel, Switzerland
1998 Yeti Footprint Yak and Yeti Hotel (Hyatt Group) Kathmandu, Nepal
1997 Water Lingam, marble, quarried and carved in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. The DeLaszlo Foundation, private collection of Damon DeLaszlo, Hampshire, UK
Residencies :
2004 - 2007 Restoration and remodelling of the life-size statue of the goddess Lakshmi. World Heritage Site "Garden of Dreams", Kathmandu, Nepal Commissioned by the Austrian NGO Eco Himal and funded by the British Goverment.
2000 - 2003 Coordinator of traditional sculpture commissions Hotel Yak & Yeti – Hyatt, Kathmandu, Nepal
Publications :
'ZIG ZAG ZEN, Buddhism and Psychedelics', edited by Allan Hunt Badiner, art edited by Alex Grey, 2nd edition published Chronicle Books LLC 2015
Cover art: 'I am a Broken Man You can't Break Me, collected works of poetry 1995-2014', by Eric Fischer, published 2014
Visionary Art Yearbook 2010 – 2011, Otto Rapp, Visionary Art Network
'The Wooded Pleasure Grounds at Pelham – Trees, Follies and Sculptures in 2010', published by The DeLaszlo Foundation, UK
Strassacker Kunstgiesserei annual Calendar, Germany, 2010, 2011, 2013
Articles :
'Beauty and Emptiness', NY Arts Magazine, summer issue 2011, USA