Alvaro Barrington

Alvaro Barrington has generously produced After Venus Grace Sam, 2024, and Fish – Down Under, 2024, two limited edition artworks to coincide with the Duveen Commission at Tate Britain, 29 May 2024 – 26 January 2025.

The limited edition, After Venus Grace Sam, 2024, pays homage to carnival festivities and the space that Caribbean communities create through Carnival to freely dance, socialise and celebrate their culture. Growing up between the Caribbean and New York, Barrington experienced the joy of attending carnival and observed the importance of it as a space for people, for women especially, to express themselves. ‘At carnival in the Caribbean, during a wet fete where partygoers are sometimes sprayed with fire hoses, you’d see a girl dancing in her underwear, and you’d know that this space was for her, not for you’ says Barrington, who has revisited the motif of the woman with her back turned, as she splashes in the sea, multiple times in his work. ‘I thought, as an art historical nerd, that I’ve been conditioned in that way – to know that this space was for her – and that it was interesting to see the difference between a Paul Gauguin bather, or a Lisa Brice bather, in terms of how the artists look at women. I wondered if I, as a Caribbean American man, could paint women in a way that made the viewer realise that it’s her space.’

For his Tate limited edition works, Barrington created two new paintings with the intention of them becoming prints. The paintings were digitally printed and Barrington hand-painted the screen-print overlays, working closely with the print-makers throughout the process. A selection of the editions are presented here in bespoke frames designed by the artist.

• Artist Alvaro Barrington
• Artwork After Venus Grace Sam
• Exhibition Duveen Commission
• Dimensions 76.4 x 99.7 x 7.1 cm
• Material Digital pigment print with screen-print overlays on hand-torn Somerset Satin Enhanced 330 gsm paper in bespoke artist-designed frame
• Edition Limited edition of 50, signed and numbered on back
• Date of work 2024

Alvaro Barrington (b.1983), born in Venezuela to Grenadian and Haitian migrant workers, was raised between the Caribbean and Brooklyn, New York, by a network of relatives. An unwavering commitment to community informs his wide-ranging practice. While Barrington considers himself primarily a painter, his artistic collaborations encompass exhibitions, performances, concerts, fashion, philanthropy and contributions to the Notting Hill Carnival in London. For Barrington, painting is a way to experience the world we inhabit and explore the medium’s role within a long tradition of storytelling. His approach to painting is similarly inclusive – embracing non-traditional materials and techniques such as burlap, concrete, cardboard and sewing – and infused with references to his personal and cultural history.

Selected solo exhibitions include, Island Life, Nicola Vassell Gallery, New York, USA (2023); They Got Time, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France (2023); Grandma’s Land, Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK (2023); Human Nature, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); Oh, Sandy? Sandy, Sandy, Karma, New York, NY, USA (2023); Oh Sandy, why did you leave me all alone, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, NY, USA (2023); Alvaro Barrington: La Vie en Rose, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria (2022); 91-98-jfk–lax border, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA, USA (2022). His work has been featured in group exhibitions around the world and is public collections including The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK; Institute of Contemporary Art ICA, Miami, USA; Tate, London, UK; and Towner Museum, Eastbourne, UK. In 2018 he was awarded the Rauschenberg Residency, Captiva Island, FL, USA. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and London, UK.