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| About the artist |
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"I build a sense of time into my paintings. If you want to see it all right away, you might as well look at a photograph of what I was looking at. The whole approach to my painting is to get as far away from a photograph as possible . . ."
Stephen Gibbons-Barrett |
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Critics have labelled Stephen Gibbons-Barrett's paintings "abstract," "futuristic" and "expressionist." Some have referred to him as an "abstract, futuristic expressionist," using all three designations in the same breath. No doubt, these terms are helpful when viewing the body of work he has created since he enrolled as a first year student in the fine arts program at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary in 1958. His studies in Calgary, Nelson, and during a brief stint at the Vancouver School of Art, prepared him for the challenge he faced when he journeyed to Mexico in search of James Pinto, a painting instructor he had learned might understand the experimental directions he had begun to explore. A ten-painting submission, which he came up with during his first sojourn in San Miguel de Allende, won Stephen a full scholarship to the Instituto Allende. This pivotal period spent studying with James Pinto in the melting-pot of the art colony at San Miguel, where Keary Walde and Toni Onley had preceded him in the scholarship program, led Stephen to explore mixed-mediums as well as traditional ones. While at the Instituto Allende, he also received instruction in sculpting, mural painting, and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Universidad de Guanajuato. During the 1960s, his paintings would be exhibited at a widening gyre of venues that came to include the Sun Oil Building in Guatemala, the Feria de Arte in San Miguel, the Borgnicht Gallery in New York City, the Grendfeld Gallery in Detroit, the Modern Art Centre in Brown County, Indiana, the Gallery of BC Arts, the Art Centre in Vancouver, and the Doug Christmas Gallery. His first solo show at the Mary Frazee Gallery led to several more before the decade came to a close. To support his painting activities, he played drums in several jazz groups, including one night when he filled in for Charlie Mingus's drummer. During the folk revival he performed as a solo folk singer and as the folk duo 'Steve & Joe' with Joe Mock. He continued to paint by day and work at night as a drummer with folk-rock, avante garde and rhythm & blues bands until 1978, when he was hired by the Vancouver Museum as a display tech. In 1979, he became the first full-time display designer at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. His work at the Maritime Museum included designing and managing the construction of the Heritage Harbour and the Hadden Park Extension, which he says, "was one of the best experiences of my career in design." In 1989, Stephen moved to a position as display designer at the Burnaby Village Museum. Among the most significant contributions he has made as a designer are the design for the Monument of the Old Cambie Street Bridge Drive Wheel, which was constructed by the engineering department of the city of Vancouver, and the design of the compass wheel he contributed to Tom Osborne's Circle Monument, which was installed in a park in North Vancouver to commemorate the Merchant Marines. Most recently, he completed the design for the pavilion that houses the carousel that was saved from the Pacific National Exhibition Playland grounds and is now installed at the Burnaby Village Museum. Over the years, Stephen has refined his approach to painting, frequently working from dream to sketch before he begins his paintings. In fact, dreams often dictate the medium he chooses to cast his vision. He is equally at home working in charcoal, conte, ink and wash, wood cuts, oil and glue, acrylics, and other multi-mediums. The results he has achieved evoke a wide variety of individual emotional responses in his viewers that run a full gamut from peace and joy to anger, surprise and even shock. A few of his paintings have received attention from the politically correct elite, although he has proven adequate to these challenges and offered effective responses in defence of his art.Simply put, his paintings tell stories that can be appreciated at many levels. "Usually," he says, "you have to spend a week with one of my paintings before you start identifying with it. Before you begin to see things in it that evoke responses. Then you will begin saying, 'Oh, I see what he was getting at'. So, after a year or so of living with that painting, you have got your story. It's all yours. It is your story, that my images have awakened. Another person who may be living there in that house or apartment at the same time will get their own 'story' from being there and seeing it everyday. I build a sense of time into the paintings. If you want to see it all right away, you might as well look at a photograph of what I was looking at. The whole process of my approach to painting is to get as far away from a photograph as possible.." Gibbons-Barrett currently resides in Mission, British Columbia, where he continues to be active as both a designer and painter. -Jim Brown, Author "The inner essence of humanity captured with passion, and an expressionism beyond time: the art of Gibbons-Barrett offers a unique opportunity for personal pleasure, along with an investment that appreciates over time . . ." -Douglas Aaring, CEO Singular Technologies |
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