Archive
William Bartlett
two fields
13.05.2023 – 11.06.2023
An innate curiosity and adoration for construction guides William Bartlett’s practice. Whether it’s understanding how individual objects or ideologies are built, Bartlett works in a playful state of rebellion, dissecting, shrinking, or transplanting various social and cultural ephemera to reveal their own artifice. Inhibiting a somewhat puckish role, Bartlett merges miniature and grandeur, pomp and revelry are bestowed upon unlikely subjects and items are reborn in unexpected skins. What unfolds, is an irresistible alchemy of improbable shrines and transfigurations, magnifying the core of each component in the space.
Bartlett’s love affair with fine joinery and Ecclesiastical design began as a child. Their father is a Joiner, so they grew up surrounded by this trade and they spent countless Sundays at church, gazing at peculiarities from pews.
Gargoyles, cornices and buttresses bid for their attention, embedding a fascination with craft and design. Wayside shrines, encountered during family holidays in western Europe also left an impression. Often depicting the crucifixion or other key iconographic tableaux, these miniature roadside offerings could be mistaken for birdhouses, yet their interiors host immensely detailed scenes. two fields serves as an ode to the monumental skill and care that fuels the creation of such objects, yet Bartlett’s distinct infusion of wit affords these age-old processes entirely original characteristics.
In future , the Anglo-Saxon structure of the stile is given a decided face lift. For Bartlett, stiles can be read as intriguing glitches within the enclosure of private lands. Purposefully built to grant access to the public, these structures momentarily fracture established hierarchies between landowners and the landless. In contrast to their often contemporary dilapidated state, Bartlett’s stile is irresistibly inviting, readily waiting interaction with audiences ‘with bells on’. Transplanted to the gallery space, this merry gateway sets the tone for two fields . Feudal boundaries are cast aside, as visitors are warmly offered passage from the future to a dizzying realm of the past and present.
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man offers a similarly kaleidoscopic experience. Developed over the course of three years, this divergent portrait seamlessly entwines biographical elements with wider political and cultural fragments. Troubling normative chains of command, a minute wheelbarrow sits atop a speckled wooden mantel. A flag is placed below, bearing an otherworldly visage with the phrase ‘Believe me now I will win someday’ emblazoned underneath. This last addition references Keisha White’s single ‘Someday’, the theme song for the noughties hit, Tracy Beaker, but it also signals a proud sense of resilience and political optimism. As a rebuttal to the idea of the ‘capable man’ who is all at once an industrious task master, a doting father and a ‘macho’ man, Bartlett’s portrait offers a looser self-reflection. The piece may be bound with carabiners and chains, yet societal dogmas surrounding masculinity, sexuality and parenthood are firmly shaken by the artist.
Through continual processes of remoulding and recasting, Bartlett’s work encourages viewers to challenge inherited beliefs and to engineer their own ideals. In Bartlett’s domain, the peacocking bravado of political crusades is put to shame alongside the might of monopoly figures and earthenware breadbaskets. Manifestations of patriotism, faith, sexuality and politics are collaged and assembled by Bartlett, with these juxtapositions humorously unravelling rigid doctrines.
Fran Painter-Fleming