21
May
2018
Warhorse by Bob Barker
Wielding a near monochrome palette that is alive with dark intense shadows and pure white light, allows Barker to create an immense depth within each piece. Bob recreates his working class roots through gritty depictions of work, love and play. However, it is not just the light that makes these pieces of artwork stand out, it is the poignancy of the memories it evokes, the nod to day to day living, and the stories that drive this collection. A Yorkshire man born and bred, nostalgia spurs him to paint the early years he remembers with such fondness.
Where others see soot-blackened brick and polluted skies, Bob Barker sees light and colour.
This was achieved by applying white and then black to the canvas, which allowed the white to glow through – making it sepia-toned. Bob then applied a subtle colour wash to create warmth.
Much of the process involved intuition, with the painting dictating its form and Bob simply following the flow.
He says: “When I paint, it’s almost – at least through my eyes – as if this northern light pours from my brush onto the canvas. Light in the north transforms everything it touches…from the cobbled streets to the terraced houses, mills and back alleyways…they have been bathed in this light for decades.”
From children frolicking in the street to backbreaking work in the factories and the trenches of World War One, the life illustrated is far from the digital era we live in today. But from the intense shadows, there arises a pure white light and a splash of colour. It is this evocation of hope and freedom that enables Bob to weave the nostalgia he feels for his childhood into each piece.
As a child, Bob sketched the children playing around him on the pavement, using broken pottery gifted to him by his grandmother. Decades later, Bob is still sketching the world as he sees it, explaining: “The echoes of my past become my future paintings.”
