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Artist Statement:
The Art of Cultural Idealism
Icons, symbols and objects,
established or reinvented
permit us to define our
relationship with the
surroundings in which we are
born, live, play, work and die
in. They are the means to look
intently at reality. In my own
work I use them to try and
come up with understandings by
crossing the borders between
popular culture and the moral
values embedded in it. . For
me, juxtaposing familiar pop
art icons against one another
helps fortify fascination (and
repulsion) with many of the
empty idealisms in today’s
world.
In this way my canvases become
the narrative of us. The icons
and objects in my work are
part of a larger
internalization, also exposing
what is evident and
unpredictable. The paintings
also demonstrate how art is
capable of revealing to us the
ironies that we are
encompassed in.
Even though I explore
distinctive themes, the bases
for all the work is elaborated
with elements, symbols and
icons that we recognize
consciously or intuitively,
recognizable icons of
societies and cultures across
the globe. They are a chain of
popular images that identifies
“culture.” Human history is a
common story and because of
this we share the ...
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Artist Exhibitions:
Individual Exhibitions:
2008: “Equations for A Life
Style” The Conference Room
Los Angeles,Ca., USA
2007: “Between Two Worlds”
Public Arts Department
Palm Desert, Ca., USA
2003: “Recent Works” Gallery
Soho Creative, New York City,
NY, USA
2002: “Borders” Gallery Soho
Creative, New York City, NY,
USA
2000: “Animal Crackers” ...
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Artist Galleries:
Ethra Galeria
www.galeriaethra.com
Melissa Morgan Fine Art
www.melissamorganfineart.com
Traeger & Pinto Arte
Contemporáneo
www.traeger-pinto.com...
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Artist Reviews:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Barry Wolfryd at the Beyond
the Border International
Contemporary Art Fair in San
Diego
Mexico City, August 25, 2009.
The American – Mexican painter
Barry Wolfryd will be one of
the artists whose work will
mark the first edition of the
Beyond the Border
International Contemporary Art
Fair (...
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Collections:
Hilton Corporation, Mexico
City, Mexico
Museo Casa Diego Rivera,
Guanajuato, México
Press Club Santiago, Santiago,
Chile
Housatonic Museum of Art,
Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA
Bramsen Institute París,
Francia .
APD Corporation, Mexico City,
Mexico
Taller de Gráfica Soruco,
Oaxaca México
DeBas Corporation, Mexico
City, Mexico
Galería Renata, ...
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Barry Wolfryd Biography:
| Biographical information for Barry Wolfryd can be found below. The artist may choose what information to display. Sometimes the artist chooses not to display personal information to the general public. |
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| Your Personal Biography |
Barry Wolfryd was born in Los Angeles, California in April 1952. He lives and works both in Mexico and the United States, producing innovative visual art based on a fusion of the two cultures in which he resides. Barry’s art & life work are about the absolute intensity of the two worlds he shares.
While “Growing Up Absurd” in New England, just off the Connecticut shore, Barry commenced his artistic experiments and journey. Other forms of art such as: Jazz, the progressive music of Frank Zappa and Andy Warhol’s Pop Art helped create a meaningful social-artistic fabric for his work. Barry’s art images weaved “social context” with “Dadaist metaphor” ~~~ always slightly twisting-the-truth with the lively verities of Frank Zappa culture (“Call any vegetable and the chances are good that the vegetable will respond to you”).
As a young adult in his twenties, Barry eventually moved from the United States to Mexico in order to continue his artistic ventures. It was during this first “awakening” in Mexico that Barry discovered there was another culture of cynicism (“Chingar o ser chingado”), as stated by Octavio Paz, which influenced his work deeply. ( To fuck or get fucked)
Meantime, 1985 was a crucial year in the development of Barry’s career; after moving to Mexico City from the East Coast of the United States --- Barry established his nascent New Jersey-Aztec Studio in the Bohemian neighborhood of Colonia Roma. It was while Barry was a newly transformed resident of Mexico City, living in this district, where he became an active player in the formation of the current contemporary art movement(s) in Mexico. Many of the emerging and established artists in Mexico City exhibited at Out Gallery, an avant-garde workspace and gallery project that Barry founded. Along with other cutting-edge and underground project spaces, such as La Quiñonera, Salon dés Aztecas, La Zona, Barry helped to create what is now one of the world’s most dynamic and flourishing art scenes.
Barry’s recent work demonstrates the “intensity” in which he likes to incorporate cultural artifacts-goods-idols which have displaced traditional religious icons and values within a “maturing” Mexico; Barry reveals how a “well-developed,” American GIANT inundates the cultural heart and consumer mind of Mexico. It is this “rub without polish” that fascinates Barry --- while he conjures imagination and repulsion regarding household brands and items that reflect an empty international idealism, lamenting the disappearing uniqueness and colorfulness of a particular country invaded by the aesthetics and frivolous mindset of HUGE multinational corporations.
John Mason Hart, noted Professor of History at the University of Houston, discusses Barry’s work in his book entitled: “Empire and Revolution (The Americans in Mexico Since the Civil War),” observes that Barry’s work reflects the cultural miscegenation that is so glaringly obvious today:
“Barry’s ability to live in two cultures, this dual nature, his understanding of their symbols and icons gives him the visual tools to critique and look intently where he came from and where he lives..The painter’s ability to juxtapose pop art icons within the context of our post-9/11 world is an activist’s concern to challenge the social norms of both countries.”
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