October 16, 2018
Young Space: What ideas are you exploring in your practice?
Tristan Barlow: My paintings are a mix of ideas that have built up over the years. I have a very strong relationship to art history, old Italian masters of the quattrocento, and the romanticism of ideas concerning space, ruminations of old teachers that have bounced around in my head and turned themselves into mythology. Though my paintings are, for the most part, “abstract,” I think of them more as an arena of spatial possibilities where the confluence of ideas is transformed into a visual language of symbols. Mark-making, layers, pigment, and a willing suspension of disbelief concerning the impossibilities of space lends itself to a world of visual fictions.
YS: What is your process like?
TB: I work with oil paint and that affords a plethora of possibilities. I experiment often in my application of paint. I edit, scrub, scrape, layer, etc…
Visually, my process is a filtering of ideas and notions from all sorts of sources. The idea of a mirrored image and Narcissus can send me through 20 paintings. So can a trip to the British museum or the light from a beach in Florida. Or what it would be like if Botecelli were to make a whole painting of grass and flowers? What if the Ancient Egyptians had internet?
YS: Do you have a mentor, or a piece of advice (or both), which has influenced your practice?
TB: My first professor in Mississippi, who I must give a lot of credit to, told me, “Son, in this business you gotta fish or cut bait.” That, inexplicably, has come back to mind many a time.
tually right,” says BAHS president Anita Rogers. “They have very different backgrounds and different roles. A house manager oversees the structure of the staff and typically does all of the hiring and firing. They handle scheduling—making sure a chauffeur is always on call, housekeepers shifts are covered, and that a replacement is available if someone calls in sick. They’re also responsible for the budgeting, financial planning, and overall management of household.”
Tribeca is the place to be on Thursday, June 21, 2018 when the New York City neighborhood hosts the Spring edition of Tribeca Art & Culture Night (TAC Night). Offered four times a year, TAC Night features art performance, dance, artist tours, gallery talks, open studios, workshops and more taking place across the Downtown New York neighborhood.
kshire, UK in 1945. He studied anatomy and fine art at the Birmingham School of Art. He moved to the island of Crete in Greece in 1962, which is when he began painting his most prolific work. Rogers went through many stylistic periods, ranging from fully figurative to abstract. He died in 2001, leaving behind an extraordinary body of work. Seventy-five percent of his estate is owned by his daughter, Anita Rogers.
Your works appear chaotic and harmonious at the same time, tell us more about your working method.