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 around fifty international artists. The gallery opened in 1997, with an inaugural exhibition of new paintings by American painter John Currin presented in parallel with an offsite show by British artist Sarah Lucas, The Law, at St John Street. This pairing established the international breadth of the gallery's programme, which has since expanded over the past two decades. Since its inception, Sadie Coles HQ has operated from a variety of spaces; most recently mounting offsite shows in Los Angeles and Mayfair in 2020 with a significant new video installation by Martine Syms. In September 2013, Sadie Coles HQ opened its largest space at 62 Kingly Street in Soho, as well as a second space at 1 Davies Street in Mayfair designed by 6a Architects in 2015, and a third space at 8 Bury Street in St James’s in April 2021. ...
