Toby Barnes, "Installation"
2023
Paintings “The Presets” and “FANTAsmagoria”
Synthetic polymer on printed canvas
STATEMENT
Toby Barnes is a visual artist, working in painting, textiles, and digital art to explore symbolic and material intercultural communication. His work addresses ideas of hybridity and creolization, the making of the new in the interactions and tensions between cultural forms and practices. Inspired by contemporary and traditional Asian iconography, textiles, and spiritual practices, he is interested in how human beings animate their material world, relating new and old forms to create unimagined languages, forms, and futures. Barnes has since young been inspired by the energizing mix of peoples and cultures in urban settings, as well as concerned by economic and environmental deterioration. In his work, he looks at how certain materials and forms can generate greater presence, reflection, and meditation to work against the accelerating and consumptive forces of the present.
BIO
Barnes was born in Miami to Thai and Midwest parents. He currently lives and works in Amherst Massachusetts. Barnes has received fellowships and residencies including MASS MoCA Studios, Elizabeth Murray, Locust Projects, Aljira Emerge, and Berkshire Taconic. Barnes has exhibited nationally and internationally including venues in New York, Miami, San Francisco, Tokyo, Birmingham (UK), Chiang Mai (Thailand), and Bangalore (India). Solo and group exhibitions include Volta, Locust Projects, the Berkshire Museum, Yellow Peril Gallery, Time and Space, Scope, NADA, APE Northampton, Zone Chelsea, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Plum Blossoms, The Proposition, Asian American Art Center, PS.1 MOMA, and the Queens Museum. His work has been reviewed by ArtSlant, Art Asia Pacific, New York Arts Magazine, Artnet, the Japan Times, Ante-Magazine, the Providence Phoenix, Time Out Bangalore, and the Hindu. Barnes received a BFA from Cooper Union and an MFA from the University of Michigan.
2023
Paintings “The Presets” and “FANTAsmagoria”
Synthetic polymer on printed canvas
STATEMENT
Toby Barnes is a visual artist, working in painting, textiles, and digital art to explore symbolic and material intercultural communication. His work addresses ideas of hybridity and creolization, the making of the new in the interactions and tensions between cultural forms and practices. Inspired by contemporary and traditional Asian iconography, textiles, and spiritual practices, he is interested in how human beings animate their material world, relating new and old forms to create unimagined languages, forms, and futures. Barnes has since young been inspired by the energizing mix of peoples and cultures in urban settings, as well as concerned by economic and environmental deterioration. In his work, he looks at how certain materials and forms can generate greater presence, reflection, and meditation to work against the accelerating and consumptive forces of the present.
BIO
Barnes was born in Miami to Thai and Midwest parents. He currently lives and works in Amherst Massachusetts. Barnes has received fellowships and residencies including MASS MoCA Studios, Elizabeth Murray, Locust Projects, Aljira Emerge, and Berkshire Taconic. Barnes has exhibited nationally and internationally including venues in New York, Miami, San Francisco, Tokyo, Birmingham (UK), Chiang Mai (Thailand), and Bangalore (India). Solo and group exhibitions include Volta, Locust Projects, the Berkshire Museum, Yellow Peril Gallery, Time and Space, Scope, NADA, APE Northampton, Zone Chelsea, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Plum Blossoms, The Proposition, Asian American Art Center, PS.1 MOMA, and the Queens Museum. His work has been reviewed by ArtSlant, Art Asia Pacific, New York Arts Magazine, Artnet, the Japan Times, Ante-Magazine, the Providence Phoenix, Time Out Bangalore, and the Hindu. Barnes received a BFA from Cooper Union and an MFA from the University of Michigan.
2023
Paintings “The Presets” and “FANTAsmagoria”
Synthetic polymer on printed canvas
STATEMENT
Toby Barnes is a visual artist, working in painting, textiles, and digital art to explore symbolic and material intercultural communication. His work addresses ideas of hybridity and creolization, the making of the new in the interactions and tensions between cultural forms and practices. Inspired by contemporary and traditional Asian iconography, textiles, and spiritual practices, he is interested in how human beings animate their material world, relating new and old forms to create unimagined languages, forms, and futures. Barnes has since young been inspired by the energizing mix of peoples and cultures in urban settings, as well as concerned by economic and environmental deterioration. In his work, he looks at how certain materials and forms can generate greater presence, reflection, and meditation to work against the accelerating and consumptive forces of the present.
BIO
Barnes was born in Miami to Thai and Midwest parents. He currently lives and works in Amherst Massachusetts. Barnes has received fellowships and residencies including MASS MoCA Studios, Elizabeth Murray, Locust Projects, Aljira Emerge, and Berkshire Taconic. Barnes has exhibited nationally and internationally including venues in New York, Miami, San Francisco, Tokyo, Birmingham (UK), Chiang Mai (Thailand), and Bangalore (India). Solo and group exhibitions include Volta, Locust Projects, the Berkshire Museum, Yellow Peril Gallery, Time and Space, Scope, NADA, APE Northampton, Zone Chelsea, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Plum Blossoms, The Proposition, Asian American Art Center, PS.1 MOMA, and the Queens Museum. His work has been reviewed by ArtSlant, Art Asia Pacific, New York Arts Magazine, Artnet, the Japan Times, Ante-Magazine, the Providence Phoenix, Time Out Bangalore, and the Hindu. Barnes received a BFA from Cooper Union and an MFA from the University of Michigan.