Uten tittel, 1997

Barclay is an installation artist who works with various materials and elements, including stone, steel, aluminum, glass, water, and used motor oil. A distinctive feature of his art is what are known as the “oil rooms.” In these works, Barclay constructs oil pools and fills the entire floor with used motor oil. This creates a mirror effect—a reflective space that, in turn, offers an ever-changing interpretation of the motif. Barclay studied art history at the University of Bergen before completing four years of art education in Italy (1979–83: design and photography at the Istituto Statale d’Arte di Firenze, and art at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma). He established himself as an artist in Rome in 1983 and held his first solo exhibitions at the art associations in Bergen and Trondheim in 1984. In 2023, a major retrospective exhibition will take place at the Henie Onstad Art Center. There, the series created at DGB will be shown to the public for the first time.