Matthew Barney

Born in 1967 in San Francisco, Barney lives and works in New York and Reykjavik.

Since graduating from Yale in 1989, Barney has made a rapid impact on the art world with exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1991, 1996 and 2000), Documenta 9 (1992), Tate Britain (1995) and the Guggenheim (2002).

In 1994 Barney embarked on the "CREMASTER" cycle, possibly Barney’s most complex work, which consists of five feature length films that he wrote, directed and performed in. The cycle explores the creation of form gender and sexuality constructing a personal mythology. Alongside each film, Barney created sculptures, photographs and drawings relating to the themes and imagery within the cycle. An exhibition of the whole cycle went on public display at the Guggenheim in New York in 2002.

Barney’s Drawing “Restraint” series explores resistance and creativity, in particular, how the body respond to increasing resistance. “Drawing Restraint 9”, perhaps the centrepieces of the whole series is a 143-minute film shot on digital video and transferred to 35mm film, featuring Barney and his wife Bjork. The film fuses Japanese history and culture with Barneys own interests in metamorphosis and indeterminate states.