Carlos Barrios
Carlos BARRIOS
(born 1966, San Salvador, El Salvador, Central America; lives and works in Queensland).
“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.”
Selected Solo Exhibition
2019
Amor en el Campo, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2018
Salutations, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2017
Reveal-Revlar, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2016
Transcendencia, Mitchell fine arts, Brisbane QLD
Fiesta, CTC, Robertson NSW
2015
In Lak’ech, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Paddington NSW
2014
Momentos, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Paddington NSW
Allegory, Metro Gallery, Melbourne VIC
2013
Carlos Barrios, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Paddington NSW
2012
Solo exhibition at Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Paddington NSW
Solo exhibition at the Goulburn Regional Gallery VIC
2010
Memories, pasion y lineas, Loft gallery, Bowral NSW
2009
Figures & Lines, solo exhibition, Gallery Bodalla, NSW
In to the Void, solo exhibition, Painter’s Gallery, Mona Vale NSW
2 0 0 8
The Joy to Be Here, Bowral, Southern Highlands NSW
2007
Solo exhibition at Painter’s Gallery, Mona Vale NSW
2 0 0 6
Urban familia, Wallspace Gallery, Sydney NSW
Personajes, La Pinacoteca San Salvador
Selected Recent Group Shows
2016
Reveal, Mitchell fine arts Brisbane, QLD
2015
Por Amor For Love, Metro Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2013
Auto Portrait, Eccosse Gallery, Exeter NSW
Group show at the New England Gallery, NSW
2012
Group show at the New England Gallery, NSW
2 0 1 0 Group exhibition, Maunsell Wickes Barry Stern Galleries, Paddington
2 0 0 9
Salon de Petits Tableaux, The Milk Factory, Bowral, NSW
Creating the Body, Perl Contemporary Art, Vaucluse
Reflections of Australia, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
2 0 0 8
Treasure of Seeds, Jenolan Caves, NSW
Awards and Prizes
2013
Finalist, Fisher Ghost art prize.
Assisting John Olsen in a large mural project.
2012
Finalist, Fisher Ghost art prize.
2011
Finalist, Plein Air Art Prize Parliament House
2 0 1 0
Winner, Modern Two-dimensional Liverpool City Art Prize for drawing
Finalist, Adelaide Perry Prize for drawing
Finalist, Plein Air Art Prize Parliament House
2009
Modern Two – dimensional Liverpool City Art Prize
Plein Air Art Prize Parliament House, finalist
2008
Blake Prize Finalist with ‘Compassion’ at National School of Art
2 0 0 6
Blake Prize Finalist with ‘Flying Angel’ at National School of Art
Sulman Prize Finalist with “Feeding Time” Art Gallery of NSW
2005
Finalist, Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of NSW
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1214 High Street,
Armadale, Victoria 3143
+61 3 9500 8511