Separation in the Evening (a celestial blossom before the yellow house) is a ten foot-tall, metal sculpture. The work not only brings sculpture to Jupiter Artland’s landscape but also an artist’s apprehension of painting, colour and light – an interdisciplinary approach characteristic of Barker’s practice.

Separation in the Evening (a celestial blossom before the yellow house) was an important step in Barker’s development towards large-scale artworks in exterior spaces. The artwork’s title is adapted from that of a 1922 painting by Paul Klee, alluding to the movement across mediums that is characteristic of Barker’s practice. The work’s graduation of colour is reminiscent of watercolour landscapes and Barker extends her palette with influences from Japanese painter Hiroshige.

“A first encounter with the outdoors as a space to make art for takes a shift in perception, and a sensitive navigation of the sculptural pivots, topographical and geomantic landmarks unique to Jupiter Artland, especially because unlike a gallery environment, the landscape here is constantly evolving, plumping in summer to create flood-lit enclosures, and pockets of space, that reveal and illuminate themselves in different ways through the seasons.”

Sara Barker