charles barbier : it's in the details

'First Wednesday' Opening: 2/7, 7 - 11 p.m.
ARTiculate Artist Talk: Sunday, 2/11 at 4 p.m.

It's in the Details marks a return to ink for Charles Barbier, one of the first mediums he fell in love with as a child with a penchant for doodling. In those early doodles he developed a style around filling the entire picture plane and later introduced negative spaces with irregular edges to strengthen their composition. In the works featured in this latest exhibition, Barbier explores his own artistic history, playing with negative spaces to create the illusion of faces among his subject matter. Among the subjects Barbier tackles here and in other works are politics, pop culture, UFOs, and psychic phenomena, all the while exposing "a lot about myself and things that the viewer can relate to."

A BRG artist member since 1994, Charles Barbier was a self-taught artist for fifteen years before receiving his BFA from The University of New Orleans and an MFA from Louisiana State University. He cites his experience of being a veteran of the Vietnam War (1968-69) as a strengthening factor in his development as an artist. In tackling controversial subjects and themes that often reflect a local context, Barbier employs complex compositions with meanings that are open to the interpretation of the viewer.

This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from Paul Dean, Clark Derbes, and Tom Richard. It will be open to the public, free of charge, during normal gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m.) February 4 - March 1, 2018.