Intervalo: Johan Barrios

Art League Houston is excited to present Intervalo, a solo exhibition by Colombian artist Johan Barrios in the ALH Hallway Space. Exhibition Dates: May 6 – June 18, 2016. Opening Reception: 6 – 9 PM Friday May 6, 2016. ALH Hallway Space I Artist talk at 6:30 PM.

The exhibition features a series of small works on paper that have an otherworldly, haunting quality, exploring the artist’s ongoing enquiry into concepts of time, movement and space, as well as notions of self-disclosure and intimacy.

From a distance these delicate drawing read as photographs, but up close their intricate surfaces become visible, striking a subtle balance between the materiality of graphite and paint, and its emotional and figurative resonances.

“My work is a reflection on the materiality and temporality of art, as I am interested in speaking to the fragile and ephemeral condition of drawing” says the artist. “I have brought these passive yet troubling situations together in this group of pieces titled Intervalo—the amount of time that exists between two things or two incidents generally of the same nature.

Within the works, there is a constant, specific interest in positing simple questions like, why is paper paper? Or why is graphite graphite? Perhaps this is why there is always a gesture—whether graphic or pictorial—that interrupts these characters; perhaps this is always a reminder to the public that my work does not attempt to be representational, and even less so does it attempt to be a photograph. For me, these are performances of drawing that address drawing itself, but also at the same time address other human psychological and social issues inherent in my own self, like loneliness or fragility.

Over the last two years, my work has been focused on drawing as a conceptual strategy; there is something immediate and poetic that I find in drawing, one of the most primitive of artistic tools. Perhaps it is the monochromatic sensation of the void that prevents any type of distraction.”

ABOUT JOHAN BARRIOS

Johan Barrios was born in Barranquilla, Colombia in 1982. He recently moved to Texas five months ago, and is living and working in Spring, Texas. Johan Barrios received a MFA in Visual Art from the University of Antioquia. His paintings have been shown in numerous national and international exhibitions.