Alvaro Barrington

I love the idea of finding things within other artists that I can bring back into the studio, so I never really concern myself too much with influence. If I’m working on a painting and don’t know how to resolve it, sometimes going to museums and looking at art books will let me find something interesting to bring back to the work, or bring in an element that was already there but I hadn’t noticed. I love the idea of looking at others to figure out what’s happening with me.

– Alvaro Barrington

Alvaro Barrington paints vivid abstractions that consider the cultural production of subjects ranging from hibiscus flowers to the life of Marcus Garvey. Raised between Brooklyn and the Caribbean, Barrington utilizes cross-disciplinary materials and crafts that often reference his childhood, including the sewing of his Grenadian aunts. In his early work, Barrington experimented with “copying” artists like Willem de Kooning, Henry Taylor, and Howard Hodgkin. The influence of such artists, whose work Barrington highlighted in a 2019 show he curated titled Artists I Steal From at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in London, can be felt in the bold, gestural quality of his compositions.

Alvaro Barrington (b. 1983, Caracas, Venezuela) lives and works between London and New York.

His recent solo exhibitions include Grace, Tate, London (2024); Oh Sandy, why did you leave me all alone, Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2023), La Vie en Rose, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg (2022); Spider the Pig, Pig the Spider, South London Gallery, London (2021); Wave Your Flags II, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2021); Drug Culture: Vol. ii. Trust your local drug dealer, Emalin, London (2021); Garvey 1: BIRTH – The Quiet Storm, Nicola Vassell, New York (2021); You don’t do it for the man, men never notice, You just do it for yourself, you’re the fucking coldest, Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris (2021); Garvey 2 – They eyes were watching God, Corvi- Mora, London (2020); Garvey: Sex Love Nurturing Famalay, Sadie Coles, London (2019); A Taste of Chocolate, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London (2018) and MoMA PS1, New York (2017).