Christopher Barnabe

This series of paintings are an extension of Christopher’s interest in the ambiguity of two intersecting lines and the multiple interpretations of X. Are they figural (Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man)? Are they gestural (a crossing of the heart)? Are they spatial (“X” marks the spot for art)?
 
“As I started to become interested in this motif, I realized that the abstract contemporary canon would be filled with artists interested in this iconic form. Frank Stella, Robert Mangold, Dorothea Rockburne, and Takashi Murakami are just a few of many who have explored the construct,” says Christopher, whose degrees in both architecture and art history greatly inform his practice.
 
Christopher’s paintings showcase a strong interest in colour and line; the vertical lines establish a visual rhythm that the diagonal slashes interrupt. Disjointed repetitions of the diagonals add complexity to the image that forces the viewer’s eye to roam the surface of the painting, finding eddies of line and colour to linger on. “I’m interested in creating linear disjunctions which add a dynamic feel to the painting.” Bright colours also help to pull the composition of the work together, often bleeding from perceived foreground to background, from figure to ground.
 
Painted on archival paper, each acrylic piece is unique. “I had been doing large scale paintings on canvas and wanted to try something on a smaller scale. I liked how painting on paper gave the image the feel of a print, but a one-of-a-kind piece of art.” The many iterations are at once similar and dissimilar, familiar and unfamiliar—guided by personal interpretation. X is the intersection.