Within a new, intimate gallery in the Barbican, contemporary artist Huma Bhabha's monumental sculptures forge new dialogues with works by 20th century sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
The sculptures in this show span nearly a century of artmaking, their mediums ranging across plaster, bronze, terracotta, and found objects. Works from across Bhabha’s career are displayed alongside iconic works by Giacometti made mostly in the aftermath of World War II.
Here, the ancient, modern, and contemporary meet, with both artists sharing a longstanding interest in the history of figurative sculpture and the body as a site for the traumas of our times. The gallery becomes a landscape of ghostly figures, speaking to ongoing conflicts in which human life is seen as collateral damage.
On view for free in the Level 2 Foyer are four of Bhabha's monumental sculptures. These gigantic forms represent the ancient and the modern, the human and the non-human, and draw inspiration from 1980s and 1990s horror and fantasy films.
This is the first of three exhibitions as part of Encounters: Giacometti, a series that brings together the practices of three contemporary artists known for their originality and ingenuity alongside historic works by the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966).
Co-organised by the Barbican and the Fondation Giacometti
In partnership with the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi
The Encounters: Giacometti series is generously supported by Blanca and Sunil Hirani, Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund held at The Prism Charitable Trust, and Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, with additional support from the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation.
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Encounters: Giacometti
Artist Biographies
Huma Bhabha
Huma Bhabha creates nuanced, formally inventive sculptures, drawings, and photographs that reinvent the figure and its expressive possibilities.
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti is one of the most significant European sculptors of the 20th century. He is known for his distinctive, elongated sculptures which experiment with the human form.
