Birth Rites was my third freelance exhibition and was an exhibition by Barry Cooper, held on the 16th of November 2018 at Centrespace in Bristol.
It was fantastic to work with such an amazing artist that had accomplished so much. A lot of the job of curating this show was sorting through Barry's lock up, which he organises meticulously, and held artworks spanning his not insubstantial art career!
Focussing on one of his larger works, Birth Rites, the show featured a selection of paintings, drawings, performance pieces and sculpture exploring themes around identity, politics, and the feminine.
From the fragmentation of cubist figuration, through the chaos of gestural abstraction, and the spacious geometric calm of his Greek Songs and Layers paintings, Barry’s work variously reflects his belief in the connection between art and music, his interest in the quantum-physical fabric of the universe, and his long association with the Greek island of Paros.
Curated by Eloise Dunwell, the show took the audience on a journey through a wealth of artistic endeavour and experience stretching back over four decades.
Barry Cooper - The making of the Mark