About Frank Barnes
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Previous events
Event: 18 x 18
Dates: 3 Dec 2015 - 23 Dec 2015
A group show by 18 regional artists
Event: Sefton Open 2015
Dates: 1 Dec 2015 - 20 Dec 2015
Open exhibition
Event: Cross Street Open
Dates: 1 Oct 2015 - 18 Oct 2015
An open exhibition
Event: Warrington Arts Festival
Dates: 1 Oct 2015 - 21 Oct 2015
Group exhibition
Event: Ithaka
Dates: 1 Sep 2015 - 12 Sep 2015
A solo exhibition of recent works
Event: Art Merseywide
Dates: 1 Aug 2015 - 1 Sep 2015
prizewinners show 'Best in Merseyside'
Event: The Bigger Picture
Dates: 1 May 2015 - 1 Jun 2015
group show of large paintings
Event: Liverpool Art Fair
Dates: 1 May 2015 - 1 Jun 2015
Group show
Event: Sefton Open 2014
Dates: 1 Sep 2014 - 1 Dec 2014
Regional open exhibition
Event: Out Of The Box
Dates: 1 Jul 2014 - 1 Sep 2014
Regional artists exhibition
Event: Cover Up
Dates: 1 Apr 2014 - 1 May 2014
An exhibition by regional artists
Biography
“My work is about recording what I see, feel and hear in different locations. These locations are places that I am familiar with and frequently re-visit. Such locations are ‘footprints’ of my own life experiences, they are permeated with memories and saturated with feelings. These places are, in most cases, substantial. They exist and are part of a material world. Occasionally the locations are ethereal and are derived from sources which are abstract and transcendental. The sources here are lyrical and the settings lie within the aesthetics of sound and the expression of ‘word’. The images develop through a process of spontaneously creating fresh visual melodies over structured backgrounds that form the settings for the compositions. Whether physical or abstract the paintings are intended as glancing episodes composed within illusionistic spaces. I try to paint as automatically as possible. It’s difficult to talk about ‘mark’ and ‘colour’ as an “idea” in a rational way, yet nothing can compare with its infinite possibilities and the multiplicity of its possible meanings. A smudge, a smear, a stroke of colour can be any number of things depending on shape, transparency, density, scale and context etc. The paintings are built in layers, each subsequent layer adding to a series of cancellations which partially veil the applications of colour, and spark improvisations. Other sources which inspire the paintings are varied, including early Renaissance art, Art Brut, North African art, American Abstract Expressionism, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, John Hoyland, the Fauves, Paul Gauguin, Howard Hodgkin, Helen Frankenthaler, Barbara Rae, Hans Hoffman, Alan Davie, Karel Appel, Corneille and the COBRA group. I also look to ancient cultures, historic signs, symbols and motifs, mythology, landscape, and the music of popular traditions, classical western origins, international folk, and jazz.” – Frank Barnes 2018