Simeon Barclay was born in Huddersfield, England in 1975 to a Caribbean father who had emigrated from the small island of Carriacou in the 1950s. In 2010, Barclay earned his BA in Fine Art from Leeds Metropolitan University, and later completed his MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2014. Exploring identity construction and performance, Barclay’s multidisciplinary art practice draws inspiration from a diverse range of references, including journalism, fashion magazines, comic strips, sports and footballers, and Afro-Caribbean culture.
Multimedia artist Simeon Barclay was born in Huddersfield, England in 1975. His father emigrated from the small Caribbean island of Carriacou in the 1950s and worked as a tailor in West Yorkshire. Barclay recalled his father coming home after a long shift at the mill and unfurling his tailoring tools, with Barclay and his siblings serving as ‘models, walking up and down and parading these garments […] I started to understand the power of fashion as a way of disturbing narratives, and for my father to do it all after a day of work […]. That taught me that you could satisfy some sort of need if you really believed in it’ (Whitehouse 2018). As a young child, art making was for Barclay a place ‘of true expression’, a refuge where he found solace and an escape from reality (Something Curated). However, brought up in a working-class environment, he did not perceive art as having the same value or potential for monetary gain as other practical professions, such as being a mechanic. Despite enjoying art, he did not have a clear idea of where it could lead. As a result, after finishing school, he pursued a career in engineering for 16 years. However, he used various subcultural activities such as music, fashion, and football as outlets for self-expression, as they offered alternative modes of communication that defied social norms.
In 2010, he earned his BA in Fine Art from Leeds Metropolitan University, and later completed his MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2014. During this time his work caught the attention of Morgan Quaintance, a curator and visiting tutor, who recognised Barclay's unique approach in incorporating subjectivity, race, and challenging patriarchal ideals of masculinity from the perspective of a black, working-class, northern male into his art. Exploring identity construction and performance, Barclay’s multidisciplinary art practice draws inspiration from a diverse range of references, including journalism, fashion magazines, comic strips, sports and footballers, and Afro-Caribbean culture. He also explores topics such as British working-class history, the industrial heritage of northern England, Thatcherite racism and the ongoing migrant crisis, combining culturally significant moments and figures with his own personal memories, through a process described by Jazmine Linklater as ‘memory-mining’ (Linklater 2018). As noted by Quaintance, Barclay’s work ‘stands as the formalised outcome of what feels to be a really considered process of cultural archeology’ because he exhumes ‘images, ideas and social practices that are so rich with meaning and association, but usually these meanings and associations have been forgotten, suppressed, or maybe emptied’ (Meeting Simeon Barclay). Barclay's art is deeply involved with aesthetics, and he frequently employs interventions in gallery interiors that involve colour, light, and industrial materials. Manipulating the architecture of spaces, he creates immersive experiences that challenge traditional notions of exhibition design and engage viewers in a unique way.
After his first London exhibition They Don't Like It Up 'Em at Cubitt in 2016, and receiving an award from the Liverpool Biennial Associate Artists Programme, Barclay was invited to showcase his work as part of Tate Britain's Art Now series in 2017. He presented a multimedia exhibition titled The Hero Wears Clay Shoes, where he incorporated slick, industrial materials that reflected his past experience working in industry, as well as the aspirational lifestyle depicted in fashion magazines. The exhibition featured video clips of Calvin Klein advertisements and a filmed performance by American artist Martha Rosler, which deconstructed the power of images, their capacity to allure and provoke, and their inherent connection to consumption. An Arrangement on Blue (Swamp Rat Skank) (2015, Arts Council Collection) exemplified Barclay's diverse influences and his fascination with the encounter of images in popular culture. The artwork depicted a pair of legs confidently striding down a catwalk, an apprehensive Jerry the cartoon mouse, and a notorious image of footballers Paul Gascoigne and Vinnie Jones from 1988. His exhibition England's Lost Camelot at Workplace Gallery in London (2021) delved into the cultural legacy of Britain, combining imagery from British folklore with collages made from his own collection of contemporary ephemera. Aiming to highlight complex ideas surrounding class, race, and gender in contemporary culture, the show drew inspiration from the enduring iconography of the gallant knight in British folklore and its lasting influence on prevalent notions of masculinity. Within the exhibition, Barclay also explored the theme of exclusion through the use of barcodes, fences, and other motifs that obstructed the sight and complicated the viewer's relationship with the images.
Barclay has been Curator and Programme Director of The One Offs Project, Leeds (2010) and artist-in-residence at Phoenix Dance Theatre, Leeds (2018) and at Girton College, University of Cambridge (2018–19). In 2018 he was the recipient of The Bryan Robertson Trust Award. In the UK public domain Simeon Barclay’s work is represented in the Arts Council Collection.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Simeon Barclay]
Publications related to [Simeon Barclay] in the Ben Uri Library