Joseph Barbieri: Old Ducks and Various Landscapes
On View: April 4 - May 3, 2014
Reception: Friday, April 4, 6 – 8pm
Barbieri’s other stream of painting, his animals, has quieted down. While his birds are engaged in leisurely activities, these activities are not what they used to be. Instead of boating, flying airplanes, and dancing under the moonlight, these animals mostly enjoy their portrait being done. They sit, stand, turn to the side, and sometimes paint.
Barbieri often looks to other artists, in the past and present, to inform the situations these animals find themselves in. Snakes, Snakes, Mice!, a painting of a wary, well-dressed duck, refers to the sign once posted outside Winslow Homer’s studio that was used to ward off all but the most intrepid visitor. In U.K., a duck sporting a spotted tie stands in front of a painting that closely resembles one by the artist Damien Hirst. Col Tempo, the title of which refers to a Giorgione painting of the same name, depicts an aging bird pointing to himself. Is Barbieri indicating that he too is aging and contemplating his future?
Joseph Barbieri
Barbieri trained at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. His paintings have been exhibited at such venues as the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the National Academy of Design in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
artist’s biography
press release
