Alvaro Barrington was born to a Grenadian mother and Haitian father in Caracas, Venezuela on 1 February 1983. He spent his early years in Grenada and, from the age of eight, lived in Brooklyn, New York. In 2015, he relocated to London and earned his MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2017, becoming active in the British cultural scene as both artist and curator.
Painter Alvaro Barrington was born to a Grenadian mother and Haitian father (both migrant workers) in Caracas, Venezuela on 1 February 1983. He spent his early years in Grenada but from the age of eight lived in Brooklyn, New York. Barrington attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, New York, and later studied at Hunter College, New York from 2010 to 2013. By 2015, he had relocated to London, first staying with Jamaican relatives, and received his MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London, in 2017. Since moving to the UK, Barrington has been active in the British cultural scene, both as an artist and curator. For most of this time, he has been based in Hackney, east London. After his studies, Barrington presented his debut solo show at MoMA PS1 in 2017. For this event, his entire Hackney studio was transported and re-installed at this prestigious museum space in Queens, New York. Subsequently he has shown with both public and private galleries throughout the UK.
A deliberate focus on art’s dynamics of exchange, coupled with a studious take on art history, characterises Barrington’s oeuvre, while his diverse background and different residencies inform his work, especially his large-scale paintings echoing Caribbean themes from his childhood. Recently, he has literally woven in his family’s sewing traditions, using yarn and creating canvases from cacao burlap bags. Performance and inclusivity also form key facets of his practice. His work embodies memories, nostalgia, and cultural exchanges, referencing movements such as the Harlem Renaissance in the USA and significant figures such as the Pan-Africanist and Jamaican activist, Marcus Garvey. Specifically, his 2019 exhibition, GARVEY: SEX LOVE NURTURING FAMALAY at Sadie Coles HQ, London, honoured Garvey. The display marked the beginning of a four-part series about Garvey’s life and his connections to London, the Caribbean, and New York. This first series explored themes of birth, nurturing, family ('famalay'), and carnival, with carnival, in particular, highlighting multicultural exchanges. As Barrington remarked, ‘At the same time as Garvey was looking at Africa while studying here in London, Gauguin was visiting Martinique, Picasso was looking at African sculptures, Matisse was visiting Harlem to listen to Jazz. Many of the elements of Africa can be found in Carnival, they were all finding new ideas, passing on old ideas through exchanges, through making, although in a specific cultural context.’ (Barrington, 2019). The artworks also incorporated a story about Anansi the spider, drawing parallels with Louise Bourgeois’s association of spiders with motherhood. In the same year, Barrington, collaborating with Julia Peyton-Jones (previously Lead Director of the Serpentine Gallery, London) co-curated the exhibition Artists I Steal From (Thaddeus Ropac). Barrington included artists including Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, and Katharina Grosse and showcased his mixed-media piece, Unc you the Plug (2019). Regarding the exhibition, he observed, ‘I didn’t want the exhibition to be about me: I wanted it to be about the folks I was seeing. […] I love the idea of finding things within other artists that I can bring back into the studio, so I never really concern myself too much with influence.’ (Barrington quoted in Lloyd, 2019). That year, in collaboration with the carnival group, United Colours of Mas, he designed a float for the Notting Hill Carnival in August, becoming the first artist to create such a commission; he also invited Caribbean musicians to join the celebration.
During 2021, he also participated in the group show, Mixing It Up: Painting Today, at the Hayward Gallery, London and was one of six black artists chosen to produce work for The Hepworth Wakefield’s School Prints, the project’s fourth year, which offered free artworks to local primary schools, in the spirit of the original School Prints, published in the 1940s. Barrington contributed Grandma’s Hands (2020). In the same year, both The Tabernacle and Sadie Coles HQ in London displayed his series Wave Your Flags, with paintings of hibiscus flowers in Caribbean flag colours, while His first solo exhibition at a UK public gallery, Spider the Pig, Pig the Spider, was held at the South London Gallery.
Alvaro Barrington currently lives in Shoreditch, London, UK. His work is represented in the UK public domain in the Tate collection and The Hepworth Wakefield collection.