Carlos Barrios

Photograph

Country:

Australia

Artist's Statement:

This painting is a reflection of my concern for the relationship between us people and our environment. This is being explored at this moment with my family. We have left the big city to live on a farm on the land. The essence of it is to raise our children with love and respect for nature, to grow our vegetables and run free between the trees.

So this work comes from the desire to be in nature and live a simple life. To be closer to the essence of being, to be inspired and surprised but little things. My children are the seed that one day will grow and produce fruit, we hope for the benefit of humanity and the planet.

Biography (condensed):

Originally from El Salvador, Central America. “The making of art is the reason for my existence. Sometimes I feel truly close to the spirit of the universe and at others I feel I walk blind among others. I have been part of many group and solo shows. At the moment we live in a farm in Robertson, the Southern Highlands of NSW.” Carlos is a Sulman Prize and Blake finalist for several years.

Biography (full):

I was born on June 26th 1966 in San Salvador, El Salvador, Central America. My father was an archaeologist and mother a home maker who also worked in business. I had a childhood filled with visits to magical ancient places, pyramids and temples. As a child art was an important discovery, it came to me for the first time in a stone belonging to an ancient city. I was on an excavation site wondering around amongst fragments of ceramic, obsidian and stone. I picked up one small stone, rectangular in shape, and as I looked into it I saw many figures. I kept it, and could observe it for hours, this fragment seemed to contain a film of moving and changing figures.

At about six years of age I discovered some pots of paint and brushes in my father¿s workshop. As I moved the paint around with the brushes through my imagination I could see many things, I allowed my hand to follow and trace them. One afternoon I planned a surprise for my parents whilst they were not around I created a large mural on a long corridor wall and was very proud of my achievement. On their return I was ordered to scrub the wall until it was spotless. I then tried collage using pictures and textures cut from encyclopaedias and precious books, I was again reprimanded for my bad behaviour. I was not discouraged as my desire to create pictures of the world I experienced was so strong. I began to keep drawing books where I recorded my experiences privately.

My father was a collector of art and artefacts, I would stare into them and found myself transported to other dimensions, times and spaces. Everything was talking to me especially clouds and shadows, they seemed to describe a space between reality and fantasy, filled with adventures.
The civil war began when I was ten and lasted over ten years. In this war time madness and normality coexisted. Many nights the electricity was cut and in the candle lit spaces of the house I saw creatures moving and watching us, so I would paint and draw them. As I worked I would watch my hand moving, creating the figures and creatures, I was the onlooker, the witness to this seemingly automatic unfolding of pictures, visual descriptions.

From those moments until now, many years have brought new experiences, adventures, travels, people, places. Some moments filled to overflowing with inspiration and others empty, devoid of sensation. The best moments are those in connection with a pencil or a brush dancing over a piece of paper or canvas. Art makes me aware of different levels of existence within the universe, sometimes revealing many questions and other times great understandings.

2007
• Blake Prize Finalist with ¿Compassion¿ at National School of Art

2006
• Urban familia – solo exhibition at Wallspace Gallery Sydney
• Personajes – solo exhibition at La Pinacoteca San Salvador
• Blake Prize Finalist with ¿Flying Angel¿ at National School of Art
• Sulman Prize Finalist with “Feeding Time” at the Art Gallery of NSW

2005
• Sulman Prize Finalist with “Pushing the Pram” at the Art Gallery of NSW
• DESNUDOS, ANGELES I ESPIRITUS a solo exhibition of recent works, Bondi Pavilion 2003
• Three Ways, Curtis Gallery, Balmain
• The Neglected Heart of Heaven, Bondi
• Five Standard Drinks, Kellman Winery, Hunter Valley
• Transiciones, Fairfield Museum, Fairfield
• Death the Last Tabou, Australian Museum

2002
• Sala Nacional de Exhibitiones, El Salvador
• Amnesty International, TAP Gallery, Sydney
• Don Adan Coffee House, Mosman
• Aroma Coffee Festival, The Rocks
• Euroform, Mosman

2001
• Terramotus, Pescepalla Docks, New York
• Casa las Americas, Madrid, Spain
• Museo National, El Salvador
• Villa Nova Fine Art, El Salvador

2000
• Central American Biennale, San Jose
• Spanish Cultural Centre, San Salvador - 3rd
• Spanish Club Art Prize, Sydney - 1st & 2nd
• Galvenstone, Texas - mural
• La Galleria, Panajanchel, Atitlan Lake
• Galeria de arte, San Cristobal las Casas

1999
• Sydney Opera House, solo performance painting for Carnivale opening
• Tracking Art, posters of works shown in most train stations in NSW
• Latinoz Bondi Pavillion, Bondi Beach
• NSG Gallery, Aroma Coffee Festival, The Rocks
• Spanish Club Sydney - 1st prize
• Game Over, TAP Gallery, Darlinghurst

1998
• Relations Campbeltown Regional Gallery, Campbelltown
• HOUSE, TAP Gallery, Darlinghurst
• Salvadorian Art Festival, Fairfield
• Interbuilding - artist in residence, Melbourne Exhibition Centre,
• The Craven Cafe Glebe
• Bacigalupo Cafe Newtown
• Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool

1997
• Australia Connection, Brussels, Belgium
• Art Hop, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney
• Cultural Diversity Art Prize, Fairfield Gallery, Fairfield - 1st prize
• Human and Others, AD 163 Gallery
• Lake Macquarie Regional Gallery
• Bondi Pavillion, Bondi Beach
• Berrima Art Society, Berrima
• Juntos, Kiama Art Gallery, Kiama

1996
• Multifarius, Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Sydney
• Full House, Casa Gallery, Rozelle
• Bank Nationale de Paris, Sydney
• Project Belgium, Moss Vale Regional Gallery NSW
• Viva, Project Contemporary Gallery, Wollongong
• 3 Tres, AD 163, Glebe

1995
• Open Air, Centenial Park Art Exhibition
• Fairfield Regional Heritage Centre
• Mary Audrey Gallery, Liverpool
• 100 Years of Solitude, Fourth Leaf Gallery, Newtown
• Salvadorian Art Prize, El Salvador
• Zacatecoluca Art Prize, El Salvador

1994
• Journey Inward, James Harvey Gallery
• Animals, People and Places, Casa Gallery, Balmain
• Cabramatta Public Library, permanent exhibition since 1994
• Exchange Hotel, Balmain
• Green Iguana Cafe Newtown

1993
• Funny Business, James Harvey Gallery, Balmain
• Premiere Exhibition, Casa Gallery, Rozelle,
• Spanish Club, Sydney - 1st prize