Frith Street Gallery

b. 1972, Plymouth, England

Anna Barriball’s work hinges on minimal interactions with objects and often steps between the parallel languages of drawing and sculpture. Much of her practice explores and depicts the accretion of time – from the length of time it takes for a candle to burn down to the repetitious activity of taking graphite rubbings from objects that bare the traces of their use or function. In her hands a map of the world is transformed into a strange expanse of shimmering substance, or the bounce of a rubber ball on a piece of paper creates the effect of a cosmic explosion. Her interventions produce objects that combine a minimalistic rigour and the seemingly endless endeavour to make sense of the world of objects by empirical study.

Anna Barriball will have a solo exhibition at Frith Street Gallery in early 2009. Other notable shows include Walsall Art Gallery in 2006, Gasworks Gallery, London and Newlyn Art Gallery in 2005 and Arnolfini, Bristol in 2003. Barriball’s work was included in the British Art Show 6 at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead and touring and is also featured in Phaidon’s major publication Vitamin D, a survey of contemporary drawing.

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