Born in Palmerston North in 1965 Kathy Barber grew up the youngest of 4. Always drawing from a very young age it was inevitable that she would have a career in the arts. After 12 years in advertising she decided to plunge headfirst into the challenge of painting. Lessons with Matthew Browne allowed her to explore the breaking down of shapes and forms and allow emotions and colours to take hold. Now 15 years on Barber has been a finalist in numerous award shows within NZ and is in both public and private collections of note. She is married with 2 boys and works from her studio in Auckland city.
Statement
Conscious thoughts and ‘self talk’ form the basis of artist Kathy Barber’s work.
Each painting is an outward expression of a thought, a phrase, a memory. These are places of the heart and mind revealed in a complex array of letters, like broken words, with the marks of the scribe looping across the canvas. The free flowing, seemingly spontaneous marks, are intersected, folded, circled and connected to clusters of bold roman characters. They make for compelling reading.
The language of the painter is visual not verbal, so sometimes it seems odd to ask the artist to write about the work. But ‘thoughts’ are not visual either, so perhaps in Barber’s hands the paintings are visualisations of how her thoughts look.
“What is that I’m thinking?” she may well be asking herself.
And we may well ask ourselves, “But what does that mean?”
Single letters are often easy on the eye, but the overall complexity and juxtoposition of Barber’s marks and letters make it less about writing and more about the act of thinking itself. These are exquisit illusions, painted with an understanding of depth and structure, where the delicacy of the vision still feels like a spontaneous guesture, a free flowing thought.
We may let Barber’s ‘words’ float by our own imaginings, they could rest at the back of our consciousness, linger on the tongue, or gather themselves into our own thoughts.
Awards
2017 Finalist- Waiheke Walker and Hall Art Award- “Go'o Shrine Above & Below”
2016 Finalist Wallace Art Awards- “Go’o Shrine” (tondo)2016 Finalist Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award-
2015 Winner Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award- Craigs Investments Partners Award
2013 Finalist Wallace Art Awards-“The road travelled”
2013 Finalist- Walker and Hall- “Remember”
2013 Finalist New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards- “Night Swimming”
2012 Finalist Wallace Art Awards-“Meet them at the door laughing”
2012 Finalist New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards- “Poppy”
2011 Finalist- Walker and Hall
2011 Molly Morpeth CanadayMerit Award
2011 Finalist New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards ‘In the Space between”
2010 Finalist New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards ‘Can you hear me’ & ‘Constant Dialogue’
2009 Finalist Waikato Painting and Printmaking Awards
2002 Finalist Waikato National Art Award ‘Our Land’