Alvaro Barrington
Alvaro Barrington (b. 1983, Caracas, Venezuela) is a multidisciplinary artist based in London. Raised in the Caribbean and later Brooklyn, New York, Barrington harnesses abstract painting, embroidery, and site-specific installation to explore communal and personal histories and disrupt art historical narratives. Hibiscus flowers, tulips, gestural passages of paint on burlap, and reimagined configurations of readymade and industrial materials such as concrete, chain, and metal rolling gates become grounds for Barrington’s lyric explorations, ranging from the life of Marcus Garvey to the legacies of hip hop and modernism. Working in an ever-evolving practice, Barrington’s multivocal art making reconfigures the relationships between communal narratives and contemporary culture.
Recent solo exhibitions include Karma, New York (2023); MassimoDeCarlo, Milan (2022); Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2022); Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg (2022); South London Gallery (2021); Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Marais (2021); Nicola Vassell Gallery, New York (2021); Emalin, London (2021, 2019, 2018); Corvi-Mora, London (2020); Sadie Coles HQ, London (2019); Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London (2018); and MoMA PS1, New York (2017).
Born in 1983, Caracas, Venezuela
Lives and works in London
EDUCATION
2017
MFA, The Slade School of Art, London
2013
Hunter College, New York
SELECTED SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024
Tate Britain Commission, London (forthcoming)
2023
Sadie Coles HQ, London, The Got Time – Grandma’s Land (forthcoming)
Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France, The Got Time (forthcoming)
Nicola Vassell, New York (forthcoming)
Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil, Human Nature
Anton Kern Gallery, New York, Oh Sandy, why did you leave me all alone
Karma, New York, Oh, Sandy? Sandy, Sandy
2022
Massimodecarlo, Milan, Sea Both Sides
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, 91–98 jfk–lax border
Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, You don’t do it for the man, men never notice. You just do it for yourself, you‘re the fucking coldest
Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, La Vie en Rose
2021
South London Gallery, London, SPIDER THE PIG, PIG THE SPIDER
Saint George Projects, Brooklyn, Wave Your Flags: Labor Day
Nicola Vassell, New York, GARVEY 1: BIRTH – The Quiet Storm
Nicola Vassell, New York, The Earth, That is Sufficient
Far Rockaway, New York, Tt x AB: The Lot Show
Emalin, London, My Words Will Live Forever – Fuck My Name
Emalin, London, Drug Culture: VOL II. Trust Your Local Drug Dealer
Sadie Coles HQ, London, Wave Your Flags II
Tabernacle, London, Wave Your Flags
Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris, You don’t do it for the man, men never notice. You just do it for yourself, you’re the fucking coldest
2020
Corvi-Mora, London, Garvey 2- They eyes were watching God
2019
Sadie Coles HQ, London, GARVEY: SEX LOVE NURTURING FAMALAY
Emalin, London, Tt X AB: Tall Boys & A Double Shot Espresso
2018
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, A Taste of Chocolate
Emalin, London, CONDO/Alvaro Barrington
2017
MoMA PS1, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Mendes Wood DM, S.o Paulo, Brazil, Linhas Tortas (forthcoming)
Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, New Communities (forthcoming)
The House of St Barnabas, London (forthcoming)
Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, France, Studio of the South (forthcoming)
Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria, 1983 | 2023
Bienal das Amazônias, Belém, Pará, Amazônia, Brazil
Mendes Wood DM, d’Ouwe Kerke, Retranchement, The Netherlands, Paper Trails
Massimo de Carlo, Hong Kong, Thread Routes
Michael Werner, New York, Birds Follow Spring
Cement Fondu, Paddington, NSW, Australia, THINGS THAT ARE REAL: ALVARO BARRINGTON X
DEAN CROSS
The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century
2022
Goldsmiths Center for Contemporary Art, London, Testament
Le Consortium, Dijon, France, The Drawing Centre Show
2021
Z33 House for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, Belgium, In the Eye of the Storm
Hayward Gallery, London, Mixing It Up: Painting Today
Abattoir, Cleveland, The Dead Don’t Die
Anton Kern Gallery, New York, 11
Emalin, London, Hand to Your Ear, Part 1 (Presence/Surplus)
Pigeon Park, 33 Manor Place, London
Nicola Vassell, New York, The Earth, That is Sufficient
Piccadilly Lights, London, London Zeitgeist
Drawing Room, London, Drawing Biennial
Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany; Sadie Coles HQ, London, Tempest
2020
Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, London, A Focus on Painting
MAMOTH, London, after image
Mendes Wood DM, New York, Landscapes of the South
Zabludowicz Collection, London, No horizon, no edge to liquid
Gladstone, New York, Drawing 2020
The Drawing Center, New York, 100 Drawings from Now
Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris, 30 Years in Paris
2019
Miami, Go to Heaven
Ca’Pesaro Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Venice, Breathless / London Art Now
Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario, Material Tells
LOYAL, Stockholm, A Seed’s a Star
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, Artists I Steal From, curated by Alvaro Barrington and Julia Peyton-Jones
2018
Mendes Wood DM, New York, Natura Naturans
Halsey McKay, East Hampton, New York, Hog’s Curve
PS120, Berlin, The Way Things Run (Der Lauf der Dinge) Part 1: Loose Ends Don’t Tie
Slade School of Fine Art, London, Widening the Gaze
2017
Rental Gallery, East Hampton, New York, Woven
Cass Sculpture Foundation, West Sussex, United Kingdom, The Sleeping Procession
Public Collections
X Museum, Beijing, China
The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England
Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Miami, Florida
Tate, London, England
Towner Museum, Eastbourne, UK
Long Museum, Shanghai, China
Foundations & Notable Private Collections
K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
Loewe Foundation, Madrid, Spain
Fundación NMAC, Cádiz, Spain
Rennie museum, Vancouver, Canada
Start Museum, Shanghai, China
Awards
2018
Rauschenberg Residency, Captiva Island, Florida
PUBLICATIONS
2020
Alvaro Barrington, Dike Blair, Marley Freeman, Zenzaburo Kojima
Karma, New York
54 pages, softcover
11 × 8 1/2 inches
Edition of 500
