Alvaro Barrington: Island Life

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"One of my interests in shows especially with Nicola is how the Caribbean and my time spent there has influenced how I understand myself but also how those from the islands have impacted the global imagination. Island Life gets its name from the amazingly wonderful Grace Jones and her album “Island Life.”  I've returned to the hibiscus flower as a way to depict notions of intimacy and migration having left Grenada to join my mother in Brooklyn when I was 8 years old.

The hibiscus flower's stamens are depicted stretching towards edges of the canvas. The flowers are painted with oil acrylic enamel paints and sit on flat spray-painted solid colors referencing sign paintings common on beaches of the Caribbean as well as artists such as Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol and Basquiat. In my “We be Jammin series" paintings on the steel drum the musical instrument of Trinidad and Carnival culture are drawn from “We be Jammin" t-shirts often sold to tourists visiting the Caribbean and places like New Orleans and were regularly purchased by my parents as souvenirs on their yearly honeymoon trips to various islands.” 
- Alvaro Barrington 
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