ALEX BARRY
“Be curious and if you are doing something you don’t enjoy stop it. Life is too short. We all need far less than we think we do.´´
Where are you from?
Born in Oxford. Live in Bristol, UK.
How did the quarantine affect your creative process?
The lockdown and working from home finally enabled me to paint my ideas out on board.
An artist, musician, and actor you´d invite to dinner.
Carl Andre, Schubert, Freddie Mercury, and Friederich Ledebur.
When I paint I feel …
Calm. Like Frederick Hammersley, I paint without thinking as the thought proceeds.
Describe your art.
Underlaid by geometric reasoning that may not be apparent to all. Sharp and shining I hope. Hopefully, (my) work is in progress because we must all keep growing and learning.
What are your favourite colours to use at the moment?
Green, purple, blue, yellow. (I) don’t know, all the rainbow.
Have you always wanted to be an artist?
I always loved art and wanted to go on to art school at 18. My father was nervous and encouraged me to study architecture instead as I was enjoying working with local builders and he thought it would be better security. I think he was right although at architecture school I was always pining for the art department. I drew and painted in my spare time but never as much as I should have until recently, aged 60.
How do you stay inspired?
I love Instagram. I see so much talent and inspiration daily. I use the eyes my mother has given me. I see beauty and inspiration at every corner. I hope I can keep this. I visit exhibitions when I can. I love music and people who have something interesting about them.
What music do you listen to when creating?
In my youth, it seemed like music was never off, on the building sites, at university. I don’t know why this stopped, those tunes and lyrics jump in my head constantly. I love Queen and Elton. I love Eminem for his boundless energy and prophetic view. I love Schubert and Mozart when I can sit still to do them justice. My father never allowed music to be the background.
Is there something creative you’d like to try?
I want to learn drums. I was a bad piano player. I like the rhythm in the drum and the physical energy. I love clay and firing. I love woodwork and making anything. I recently built an allotment shed all out of skip timber. I love recycled material, there is so much more life in old and previously used wood. I want to do woodturning. Not enough time. I love knots and sailing.
Most inspiring place you have visited.
We lived on Long Island when I was 10 in 1970 for 6 months. It was so beautiful by the North Shore. I expect it has changed. I love West Wales, the home of my mother and Dylan Thomas. I love the South-West Éire of our family holidays. Everyone loves France. I have cycled across it many times. I love Bristol. I love London in short doses. I love the Cotswolds. Everyone loves Italy; Venice, Rome, Florence, etc.
Favourite art gallery.
I loved (NGV) Melbourne in 1983. There was once a small gallery in West Wales with work by Graham Sutherland in the location he painted on the Cleddaw estuary in summers. It was so powerful seeing his art in the very place it was inspired and not removed far away in a foreign gallery. I love George Shaw. I love the solid no nonsense of the south bank Hayward. Ashmoleon. So many, anywhere that has wonderful art and clever curation.
“I wonder a lot about showing my hand in them, the wobbly line of one’s hand. Even Malevich didn’t paint exact shapes and they are so good. It´s a journey for me, things will develop´´.
How has your art has evolved over the past three years?
I use an acrylic medium on masking tape to get very sharp lines. The images are realisations of previously worked geometric abstractions and sketches. They get tighter with time before realisation. I wonder a lot about showing my hand in them, the wobbly line of one’s hand, even Malevich didn’t paint exact shapes and they are so good. It´s a journey for me, things will develop.
An artist on Instagram that we need to follow.
So many. Sean Denny. He seems to have a good heart and that is more important to me than a product. Sebastian Bergne, Jasper Winn, a great writer. Many Brazilian artists and galleries. Too many to list.
Words you live by.
Be curious and if you are doing something you don’t enjoy stop it. Life is too short. We all need far less than we think we do. Clean water, bread, sunshine in spring, shelter. How lucky we are and how many don’t see it and make themselves ill with worry about winning a lottery.
