Barrie Briscoe was born in Gloucester, England in 1936 and moved to Western Canada with his parents at 13 years old. At university he read fine art (painting), architectural engineering at Washington State University and Architectural Design at the University of Pennsylvania, then took a Master of Arts in Architecture and City Planning at Yale. He moved to England in 1972 to teach at the Sheffield University in the Department of Architecture. The following year he moved to Cornwall. Continual involvement in architecture, graphic murals, teaching, painting and drawing have carried him to New York, Toronto, Provence, Brittany and Tuscany. There have been several mixed and solo painting exhibitions in England, France and Italy.
The work consists of oil paint on canvas or wooden panels. The natural imagery is based on traditional methods of technique and application acquired through years of learning and practice. The concept is not to make a picture that is a replica image or scene but a painting that has its own internal force. This internal life is brought about by interpreting a conceptual image found in the environment (man made or natural) and developing it, with the use of the materials, painterly quality and colour, into the work of art.
Barry Briscoe is strongly influenced by his early outdoor life in North America, studies in gestural abstract expressionism and European plain air painting, all of which would appear to be connected to the evolution of the strong image or motif based upon nature. Often the search for the motif is the most difficult and frustrating part of the exercise of the painting, but once discovered the confrontation becomes a period of intense concentration.
Through the conceptual image the paintings should evoke feelings of pleasure, mystery and an inherent respect for nature and the power of goodness, or a journey in space brought about by the incorporation of screens and tunnels.
While these present images are primarily Tuscan and Umbrian in origin it is not a total imperative; it is where Briscoe has chosen to base his studio and it is not a coincidence that much of our western development in art and philosophy have originated in these parts.
For further view of the paintings and information please visit:
http://www.galleri-a.no/main.php?id=utstilling&utstillingid=1231337157Kind regards,
Andreas Engelstad
Galleri A minor
Vibesgate 12
0356 Oslo
Norway
Tel: +47 992 622 07
Fax: +47 22 46 87 06
Email:
andreas@galleri-a.noWeb:
www.galleri-a.noÅpningstider: Tirs-Fre: 12 - 18
Lør: 11 - 15
Søn: 12 - 15