I don’t know what it is, but I have a soft spot for toys and dolls doing very bad things. Very very bad things. Whether its Barbie committing bloody kitchen decapitations, action figures attacking naked girls and acting like stalking paparazzi, or just straight-up Barbie Porn, something always strikes a satiric chord when the innocent playthings of babes become insidious and/or debaucherous avatars, acting like evil adults in a universe of glossy innocence. Raised in a traditional market town south of London, artist Barnaby Barford has developed a style very unique among his peers — one achieved only via painstaking attention to detail and integrity in honing his craft. Some of his pieces have over 500 handmade porcelain tiles incorporated in the final product, and are assembled with glue and ingenuity. “Everything influences and inspires you,” notes Barnaby of his childhood roots. “Of course my upbringing, school life etc has influenced me, it has made me the person I am and has made me think in the way I think.” Well then, someone should bestow an award to Barford’s first grade teacher, because whoever inspired him to get lost in the world of porcelain, art and mischievous antics  deserves a standing ovation. Whether it’s young boys discovering pornography for the first time, or watching a burlesque show from the safety of a two-way mirror, or simply classic figurines behaving in very suspect manner, Barnaby Barford has a gift for taking found porcelain sculptures and re-purposing them in hilariously satiric situations. His latest collection, Love Is, will be showing the David Gill Galleries in London from May 27th to June 30th. Keep those eyes peeled…

Seeing as you base your pieces on already existing/found porcelain figures which are then re-purposed, is it fair to compare you with other “mashup”/sampling artists, or do you find your work outside of the realms of “sampling”?
I think the work has connections with all types of sampling works from hip-hop and dance music, right through to more high brow forms of artistic endeavour like Christian Marclay and going back historically to Duchamp or the Dadaists using readymades and found objects. There is such a huge selection of things to chose from in this world, everything has been done before so I think it is very easy for us to pick and choose the things around us to make new work from.

Is it fair to say that your stuff is a bit tongue in cheek? Some might find it dark, but I find it humorous. Is that weird?
Humour is a good way of engaging people. It is also an incredibly important emotion, I think one often overlooked in terms of art. It is not deemed as worthy as fear, shock or anger. I think though that it is one of the most important emotions; it gets us through life. I never set out to make funny work, I think that would be wrong, I take serious subject matters and through my interpretation and sense of satire they come out with a certain degree of english humour. Some of the subjects I broach might be difficult, but by talking about them with a sense of irony you get other people to think about it. You also let your guard down slightly when you laugh.

For instance, in your piece “Does this mean we’re not getting any presents?”, a couple of hoodied youths shoot Santa Claus in the head, and he’s lying in a pool of his own blood. This might disturb some people.
Well it might do. But others find it funny. That is the point really, there always needs to be room for one’s own opinions when looking at a piece of work. I like this piece because although they have just shot Father Christmas, all they are concerned about is their presents — but on the other hand they are naive enough to think their presents come from Father Christmas.

Hit the Jump to continue reading our interview with Barnaby Barford, and to see another gallery of what may or may not be NSFW, depending upon if your boss thinks porcelain can be pornographic… screw that dude anyways, and follow LIAS on Twitter and/or Facebook and we’ll let you watch whatever you like…

Your new collection has to do with pornography, and sort of examining the difference between “love” and “lust”. Do you get more negative reaction from the violent pieces, or from the more overtly sexual pieces? What does your homeland find more shocking?
I don’t know whether people find them shocking; it is not my aim to shock. I think due to the nature of them being figurines people come to the narratives in a different way. This is the idea of using these objects — you expect a rather sweet saccharine story to be told and then you realise it is not that at all, and is something quite different. People are not easily shocked nowadays; you must engage them on different levels.

Can you tell me the inspiration for the “Secret To a Happy Marriage”?
The piece can be taking in a number of ways: either he is now happily married and can get rid of all his porn magazines and focus just on his wife, or now his married sex has gone out of the window and he therefore needs the magazines to relieve himself. I guess it also poses the question of whether looking at porn is unfaithful and as bad as having an affair, or is it OK?

Does the man’s lover in “You’d Do It If You Loved Me” comply with his request?
That’s up to you isn’t it?

“You’d Do It If You Loved Me” by Barnaby Barford

Can you tell me a bit about your technique? Do you ever make the ceramics, or are they always found? How do you alter them without breaking pieces?
I use found objects and I sculpt onto them with a two part epoxy putty. I also cut the pieces up using diamond cutting tools. Regards to breaking things — you just have to be careful.

I have started making parts in clay as well, such as scenery, and obviously the magazines were made in clay. I am also working on some new projects where I am sculpting directly with clay and not using found objects.

“That’s Amore!” is an “accumulation of 500 exquisite handmade porcelain tiles featuring the covers of magazines ranging from the winsome Legshow to the frankly named Backdoor.” Did you just glue tiny covers of shrunken porn mags onto porcelain pieces? How long did this one piece take you to make?
It’s done with decals, a traditional ceramic manufacturing technique. The images of the porn mags are printed on a special transfer paper. The transfers are then applied to the hand made ’tiles’ which have already been fired twice and glazed. The tiles with the transfers are then fired again. The result is a very permanent finish, just like the decoration you might find on a plate or cup in your home.

My personal feeling about porn is that after you watch it for awhile you need more extreme behavior to be titillated. A beautiful naked woman was once enough to get a young man very excited, but nowadays it seems like she has to be tied up to a chandelier surrounded by midgets with devices coming out of every orifice to elicit the same reaction. Did you personally find yourself getting sexually desensitized by pouring over so much pornography in preparing your pieces?
It was quite different really; I was looking for magazine covers and they are quite different to looking through the magazines. I think as an artist when researching elements for a piece like this you become more highly sensitized — but not to the sexual aspect of it, but to the look of them, the layout, the image, the composition. You are not looking at these objects for sexual excitement, you are looking at them with an entirely different frame of mind. I really enjoyed the text on a lot of them, the really crappy puns for instance. I think my favourite was a magazine called ‘Menage-a-twat’.

“Does That Mean We’re Not Getting Any Presents” from Barnaby Barford…

Is desensitization the number one enemy of the artist?
I think you have to be a bit cleverer to find new ways to engage people. Nothing is new anymore so we have to find a path through making work that is still engaging. Still interesting.

Who are your design and/or art heroes?
Maurizio Cattelan
Hans-Peter Feldmann
David Shrigley
Paul McCarthy

What so far has been your proudest professional achievement?
The film I made called Damaged Goods. It can be seen under film on my website. It took 18 months and was the most difficult thing I have done. I had a great team around me, and we all worked really hard to get it done to the highest standard. It was the first film I have made and I think the amazing thing is as soon as it is finished you totally forget all the immensely hard work and long hours that go into it.

What’s the most interesting example of design work you’ve seen over the last year? Be it industrial, fashion, product, packaging, etc.
I recently bought a chair by William Plunkett called the Reigate Rocking Chair and I love it. It’s from the ’60’s and as well as looking great is so comfortable and has such a good sense of material use and form.

Lastly, if you were lost in a supermarket, in what aisle would we find you in?
The beer and wine section. Actually we’ve just had a baby so you’d probably find me with the nappies.