Alvaro Barrington

Alvaro Barrington is an artist whose work is driven by a strong sense of community. He primarily considers himself a painter, but also engages in a variety of artistic collaborations including exhibitions, performances, concerts, fashion, and philanthropy. Circling elements of nostalgia and the Caribbean, he uses painting as a means of exploring and understanding the world, and as a space for storytelling of different narratives. His previous exhibits have touched on subjects such as childbirth, migration, the Black community, incarceration, and the role of technology in modern society. His paintings are infused with references to Venezuela, Grenadian and Haitian cultural history and draws inspiration from various sources including hip-hop culture, jazz, and modernist icons such as Willem de Kooning, Paul Klee, Agnes Martin and Louise Bourgeois. He incorporates real objects into his work in the style of Robert Rauschenberg's Combines. ...

Sadie Coles HQ is a London-based contemporary art gallery representing over sixty established and emerging international artists. The gallery opened in London in 1997, with its inaugural exhibition – of new paintings by American painter John Currin – presented in parallel with an offsite show by British artist Sarah Lucas, The Law. Since its inception, Sadie Coles HQ has operated from a variety of spaces, mounting numerous off-site projects and partaking in collaborative exchanges throughout the city and abroad. The gallery frequently hosts emerging young galleries and curatorial projects in The Shop at Kingly Street, and a live events programme titled GARGLE. In September 2013, Sadie Coles HQ opened a space at 62 Kingly Street in Soho, in April 2021 a space at 8 Bury Street in St James’s and in October 2025 a third space in Mayfair: a six-storey Georgian townhouse at 17 Savile Row. ...