Charisma Everywhere: Sophie Barber
Rosie Cooper, Mousse
July 2021
Some of Sophie Barber’s paintings are as big as houses, others as small as phones. The largest are heavy, unwieldy, layered oils whose drooping, unstretched canvases threaten to fall on top of whoever tries to hang them. They are often slightly bigger than the spaces they are made in, and as a result, their lower edges drape onto the studio floor and get trodden on. The footprints the artist leaves aren’t a self-conscious act, but a trace of Barber’s irreverent attitude toward painting in general. She once lightly instructed an art handler to “just cut a bit off the bottom” because a painting was too big for the gallery it was to be installed in. “Don’t worry!” she said. Sometimes Barber herself cuts up her paintings to create new ones or to make layers for others, a process she calls “rehoming—like stray dogs.” […]