KATE BARRY — 'FLUX AND FANCY'

The last time Barry exhibited in this space she was a woman in flux. Her life was re-arranging, as lives often do, and the artist was showing signs of her shifting personal life in small details of her large, evocative canvases. Those who are familiar with her work might be surprised, as I was, at much of the work in this more recent collection, which takes a marked step away from her past works’ wistful shifting hues.

The work here is generally much smaller in scale, and while there are clear connections to her established aesthetic in works like Drop Cloth and Blowing Over, there is, overall, a trend towards clearly defined line, contained shape and arresting contrast. This different approach could be in part due to Barry’s work for this collection being primarily on panel, which is more robust, less given to soft application, and more able to support graphic delineation during her process of complex layering.

Barry still paints governed by colour, but for some of this work has shifted towards a surprising autumnal palette — sienna, turquoise, mustard, and vibrant oranges create a Modernist suggestion that is hard to overlook, especially coupled with her newly defined edges and stacked shapes. This connection is intentional, and Barry points out that her work at this time is a consideration of important interior spaces in her life — past and present- and that her current state — arguably the end point of her period of flux, has given her cause to connect the two. Memories of mid-century textiles, 70’s wallpaper, and brown dipped ceramics from her youth provide context for the retro influence, while the tinges of representation in the allusion to objects is biographic and immediate. This is the most marked departure from her previous work.

Much of what we see in 'Flux and Fancy' was produced after a significant change of scenery for Barry, and alongside these pieces, a short residency in the Side Gallery space also meant that the work has taken shape in more intimate settings. Her new home workspace is small, and while this is partly responsible for the shift to smaller scale, it has also caused a reconsideration of approach to the surface of her work. Once, this was a solitary dialogue with the canvas, a large language communicated with fluid physicality. Now Barry works at the table, in contemplation of interior compositional forms and amongst a cosy landscape of domestic objects. For this body of work, these treasured pieces became the driving factor behind this emerging visual language, as the act of unpacking forced a perspective of nostalgic rediscovery.

These works are energetic but feel more homely, and in them, there is a sense of fresh revelation playing around the lines of a vessel or suggestion of sunbeams on a potted plant. This is where the Fancy in the show’s title comes in — not in the suggestion of lavish decadence, but in the more traditional sense of the word — in daydream, on a whim, untethered from the strict banality of reason.

It’s interesting to contemplate this change as an observer of her work, to see this graphic and unexpected stage in a prolific artistic practice. 'Flux and Fancy' is, in Barry’s own words, “Vibrant, crowded, and awkward”, but creating work to this brief is a risk. The polarities of contemporary and modern sit side by side in busier compositions with bold palettes, and there is an objective gravity that defies what we may have expected from her work to date.

But — this is what comes from being an artist in flux. Barry’s compositions are busier, tighter in their scale and in their structure. Nostalgia has lent these works its weight, but its presence is balanced by Barry’s clearly joyful contemplation of a life reshuffled, re-examined, and found full in new and different ways.

— Jessica McNiccol

About the Curator

Laura Brinin

Laura Brinin is a curator of contemporary art, currently facilitating the vibrant program at Side Gallery in the heart of Red Hill, Brisbane. With an unwavering passion for nurturing connections with emerging and established creatives, Laura is dedicated to fostering artistic growth through avenues such as social media, branding, and identity development.

Laura has exhibited her own work both in Australia and overseas, as well as working as an independent freelance curator across Brisbane for over ten years. In her downtime, you can find her reading, travelling, or stalking dogs.

—   laura@sidegallery.com.au