Alvaro Barrington

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

The limited edition, Fish – Down Under, 2024, references Barrington’s Caribbean roots. Having left Grenada at the age of 8 to live with his mother in Brooklyn, New York, Barrington employs motifs of fish which are native to the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic Ocean to depict notions of intimacy and migration. The fish appears to be just below the surface of the crystal-clear water, gazing upwards through streaks of blue. Barrington is inspired by the way Henri Matisse used layers of blue and white in his paper cut-out works to suggest the fluidity of water.

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.

Each artwork is signed and numbered. Prices of the artwork are liable to change. As a limited edition sells out, prices of the artwork are subject to increase and the price will be clearly indicated.

• Artist Alvaro Barrington
• Artwork Fish – Down Under
• 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 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.