Phyllida Barlow has us on the edge at the Royal Academy
The British sculptor’s teetering site-specific installations open up new perspectives to the London institution’s architecture

There is palpable momentum behind the sculptural force that is Phyllida Barlow. Her latest operatic aria for the Royal Academy, fulfils every expectation of the acclaimed British sculptor: master of paradaox, connoisseur of materiality and astute interrogator of space. All offset with her unique self-effacing, quietly-spoken charm. But within this soaring three-room sequence in cement, fabric, polystyrene and plaster, a new type of sculptural magic is afoot.
From the entrance, a linear trajectory unfolds as a figure of eight. Immediately, a flurry of stained canvas drapes, bustling like polychrome ghosts. Dusty reds, oranges, greens and yellows sing to a cheerful tune, the only hint of melancholy in their concrete bases; cold and tactile against the frayed fabric folds. Circling behind the canvas thicket the second masterpiece approaches: a treehouse or watchtower of sorts, asymmetric, three-legged, and unsettlingly top-heavy.
Detail of untitled: lintelshadow, 2018-2019, by Phyllida Barlow.
Derived from her lintel-inspired work, the spindly timber posts surmounted by concrete slab are here mammoth in scale, and strikingly pared back. ‘After Venice, I wanted to break away from things getting submerged,’ Barlow explains. She quotes Brâncuși’s famous proposition: ‘Why would you make a stool with four legs, when three will do?’. This is a the new era for the artist. Theatricality lives on, but her new sculptural agenda is one of expediency, simplicity and precision.
In the second room, space is compressed, ‘like a ship in a bottle’. A tilting platform lowers our gaze, impaled with jagged posts like cranes legs stuck in the mud. In close quarters, a lumpy column of painted dull grey rises floor to ceiling, futile in its engorged proportions. Confusion and illusion rises – the metallic structure pierced with the apparent ease of cardboard, while beckoning the column into its empty concave form. Is this a reference to the ominous, sinister quality a cul-de-sac imbues for the artist? ‘You get to the end and you’re not sure how to get out. It is a David Lynch moment!’
Entering the cul-de-sac of the exhibition, absurd acts of balance reach new heights, literally. Three skip-sized boxes perch atop a rickety timber skeleton, seemingly fixed with no more than dabs of plaster and an upwards prayer. It wills us to climb up to see the view, but we must suspend all disbelief – the effect lies in our imagining, the equivalent of Méret Oppenheim’s fur teacup. ‘You are left in a state of obeyance,’ says Barlow. Never before has a cul-de-sac seemed so psychologically charged, so geniusly irrational, nor so fantastically absurd.
untitled: shadowplatform, 2018–2019, by Phyllida Barlow
untitled: lintelshadow, 2018-2019, by Phyllida Barlow. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth. © Phyllida Barlow and Royal Academy of Arts, London
untitled: canvasracks, 2018-2019, by Phyllida Barlow.
INFORMATION
‘cul-de-sac’ is on view 23 February – 23 June. For more information, visit the Royal Academy website
ADDRESS
Royal Academy
Piccadilly
London W1J 0BD
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Vestre’s neo-brutalist furniture will bring ‘a little madness’ to Paris Fashion Week
Bound for Paris Men’s Fashion Week this month, Norwegian furniture brand Vestre reveals a sculptural bench and mirror created with designer Vincent Laine and fashion creative Willy Cartier – the latest outcome of its risk-taking ‘a little madness’ initiative
-
For its latest runway show, Zegna creates a serene oasis in Dubai
The Italian fashion house took over the Dubai Opera for a S/S 2026 show that proposed a lived-in elegance, drawing inspiration from Dubai’s sunbaked landscapes and Zegna’s birthplace of Trivero
-
Time-travel to the golden age of the cruise ship at Sea Containers London
The South Bank hotel celebrates its tenth anniversary with four new suites inspired by period cabin design, from Edwardian elegance to 1980s glamour
-
London calling! Artists celebrate the city at Saatchi Yates
London has long been an inspiration for both superstar artists and newer talent. Saatchi Yates gathers some of the best
-
Alexandra Metcalf creates an unsettling Victorian world in London
Alexandra Metcalf turns The Perimeter into a alternate world in exhibition, 'Gaaaaaaasp'
-
Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska’s new show at Kettle’s Yard will uncover the missing narratives in everyday life stories
The artists and partners in life are collaborating on an immersive takeover of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, in an exhibition that delves into a lost literary legacy
-
Sexual health since 1987: archival LGBTQIA+ posters on show at Studio Voltaire
A look back at how grassroots movements emphasised the need for effective sexual health for the LGBTQIA+ community with a host of playful and informative posters, now part of a London exhibition
-
Ten things to see at London Gallery Weekend
As 125 galleries across London take part from 6-8 June 2025, here are ten things not to miss, from David Hockney’s ‘Love’ series to Kayode Ojo’s look at the superficiality of taste
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this week
This week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth Somerset
An intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this week
The Wallpaper* team enjoyed good art, food and drink this week, attending various exhibition openings and unearthing some of the best pasta and cocktails that London has to offer