Artwork details
About the work
- Certificate
- Certificate of authenticity supplied
- Delivery
- Insured worldwide delivery; timing and framing requirements confirmed by the gallery
Context
117 x 90 x 3 cm
46 1/10 x 35 2/5 x 1 1/5 in.
« Uncompromising is the word that maybe best describes Cristina Barr. She allows herself the freedom to paint uninhibited, flirting with figurative as well as abstract expressionism. Her exuberant brushstrokes and vibrant colors reign in her portraits, in her worlds always inhabited by human beings. Women mainly. Conscientiously, and with a great sense for beauty, she portrays models to appeal the beholder, at first sight. Yet, this is not the main motive of her art. Unconscientiously, she moves away from the exact copy of reality to express emotional intimacy, spiritual, or metaphysical states of mind. Layer after layer of paint to enter the psychological space of the subjects,- their psyche and the world around them that is transformed by their own appreciation of reality, in an interplay between figurative and the gestural looseness of expressionism. »
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Cristina Barr left Argentina and her career as an English Literature teacher to come to Paris, where she studied painting and sculpture at Musee des Arts Decoratifs, and expressionism at Central St Martin's (London). She is known for her bold and intense paintings that intertwine the private and the public – the intimate and the political, combining autobiographical elements with stories from literature, and observations on the contemporary world. She uses color and heavy brushstrokes to create unsettling tableaux which, at times, challenge the social and sexual codes still present mainly in Latin American societies. Charged with a unique psychic and emotional drama, her works, always inhabited by a strong female presence, express what it is to be a woman, particularly one living under the oppressive hierarchies and controlling conventions of patriarchal society.
Cristina Barr currently lives and works between Buenos Aires and Paris. She has exhibited her work in Paris, Lisbon, Rome, London, Florence, NYC, Bs As, and in Doha Qatar and Barcelona, Spain with the support of the Argentinian Embassy.
Artist context
About the artist
Cristina Barr Lasarte
Discover the artist's available works and exhibition history in the gallery programme.