david barnes magistri in artibus elegantioribus [email protected] as far as i can discern, the sole...
TRANSCRIPT
DAVID BARNESMagistri in Artibus Elegantioribus
www.stupidimages.com/barnes
As far as I can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.
- C.G. Jung
Visual Portfolio 2-D and 3-D
I received an MFA in Painting from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College. I studied with successful modernist artists such as Alan Cote, David Diao, Keith Sonnier and Peter Halley. I also spent significant time in rigorous interaction with composers and writers such as Joan Tower, Philip Glass, William Gaddis, John Hawks, Jean Claude van Itallie and others. They instilled in me a deep respect for the diverse vocabulary of the humanities tradition. David Diao and Peter Halley in particular encouraged me to follow a course of new formalism which they were promoting as the Neo-Geo style.
Transit
1985/ 20”x 40”
Acrylic on Canvas
Rubric
1985/ 22”x40”
Acrylic on canvas
Ave Ave 1986/ 60”x 60”Acrylic on Canvas
Friedrich Numen
1986/ 60”x 60” 1986/ 60”x 60”
Acrylic on Canvas Acrylic on Canvas
Incarnation 1
1994 / 30” x 22”
Cast bronze
One of a series of six pieces in the Incarnation series
At Montana State I found a wonderful little foundry and was seduced by metal. I worked with most processes and tried to make the metal pieces intimate in scale and in their tactile personality.
Incarnation 3 Ghost Shirt 4
1994 / 20” x 30” 1994 / 28” X 33”Cast aluminum and bronze Cast bronzeelements
Ladybug, Ladybug
1996 / 22” x 23”
Cast aluminum and lead insert
The Sick Rose
1996 / 32” x 24”
Cast aluminum with lead and iron elements
Part of a series of four sculptures with text inscribe on lead
Adam, Eve and the Serpent
1999
Cast bronze and percussion chipped stone
Cosmogenesis
1999 /26” x 12”
paraffin and tar
about the recent work
My work is a response to the ideal of the spiritual pilgrim; the seeker of a new truth or the renewal of an old faith. The mixed media objects relate to the accouterments of the pilgrim. They are meant to remind the viewer of tools and objects both utilitarian and symbolic or to evoke the characters and situations the pilgrim may encounter along the way. I like to think of the creative process as the journey of an artist seeking some kind of aesthetic revelation or visual temenos (a sacred place).
In our culture we tend to think of this space as metaphor or symbol for the psychological processes of the mind. In other cultures this space is very concrete. Artist/ prophets create upon the very face of the earth a map or doorway into the realm of spirit. They are ways to create a center, a focus, a moment of concentrated emptiness; where we can sense something greater than ourselves reaching through.
My sculpture and more specifically my painting is about evoking that place of reaching through.
Tales of the Southern Sky
2004 / 7’ x 9’
Mixed medium
To the Quick
2003 / 60’ x 63”
Mixed medium on canvas
For a few years I put most of my creative energies into making sculptural and mixed medium pieces. Painting was often incorporated but generally did not stand alone.
Most recently, I have returned to paintings as a form of visual journaling. I let the image inform itself in the marking process. I have been influenced by the work and writings of MC Richards (Centering) on whose farm in PA my wife (a wonderful watercolorist) lived for a number of years.
All of the following: Palimpsets 2002/2008
16” x 20”
Oil and oil stick on Arches paper
Palimpsests
First fruitsLacquer, canvas, mixed2009
The Blessed Day Cantata with John Bromberg March 2003
Performance Art: Art should interact with society in a positive way and impact social mores and attitudes by providing viewers with a moment of critical reflection. In the critical moment meaning is constructed. Since my time at Bard College, Performance Art has been a satisfying venue for me to express myself in the fourth dimension. I have always enjoyed the opportunity to expose students to this dynamic medium. Recently, I have been privileged to work with NYC performance artist and puppeteer extraordinaire John Bromberg.
