Left: "Pane", 2007, oil on MDF, 46" x 46"


Right (top) "Emissary", 2006, oil on MDF, 42" x 46"


Right (center) "Manifold", 2005, oil on MDF, 48" diameter


Right (bottom) "Quern", 2005, oil on wood and MDF, 3" high x 48" diameter

The large wall installations represent the most ambitious manifestations of this idea to date, and become almost architectural. The relief paintings contrast the geometry of the patterns with biomorphic contours and this relation of surface to object gives them a strong presence, as well as pushing painting into a sort of 2.5 dimensional space. I’m interested in making a surface soften into what I think of as an optical space, while avoiding Op art’s cloying dazzle. When viewed from a distance, the paintings look as if they are computer generated, but are clearly hand painted when seen up close. They are meant to seduce the sense of vision and at the same time reveal its limitations. This combination of seduction and frustration relates to my interest in the moral and philosophical implications of cutting-edge cosmology and physics; ambiguity and boggling complexity may be fundamental aspects of reality’s machine language.

For many more images, and a complete, downloadable CV, please click the "CV" link at the bottom of this page, or visit www.barrettart.com









Right: "Sigil", 2005, oil on MDF, 36" x 36"

I want my work to exist as an environment, an experience beyond genre, and for the dialogue between media to draw attention to different ways a surface can be made to dissolve into another kind of space, which is compelling and slightly uncomfortable. All these pieces illustrate my belief that beauty can be radical and subversive, and that the dialogue my works create between disparate image traditions finds a mode of expression which contains elements of these ideas while still acting as open-ended metaphor which viewers can interpret individually.