Bob Barron - Meet the Artist
Bob Barron's interview for Time Past and Time Present Retrospective solo show in DContemporary, London 2019.
Bob Barron was born in Birtley, County Durham. Following studies at Sunderland College of Art, the majority of his working life as a full-time artist has been spent in his native North-East, apart from periods in Australia, Cornwall and London.
He has recently relocated and now works from his studio in Southampton.
Barron works with mixed media as well as the traditional oil on canvas.
In his own words:
'If my work is about anything, I think much of it may be an attempt to express vague musings about the passage of time made corporeal through certain images, surfaces and textures.
Some of my work is made from the waste card that I collect from local outlets. I like the idea of recycling material which has been discarded and thrown out as refuse and turning it into art.
I also like the idea of working with slate because of the age and nature of the material. I am interested in the journey from the seabed to the quarry, from the quarry to the rooftop, and from the rooftop to the artwork.
A work may remain abstract and include simple geometric shapes especially the circle representing a perfect entity or, sometimes, I may collage into the piece a printed image such as a Graeco-Roman fragment; depict suns, moons and constellations; reference natural common or garden objects; use evidence of human traces such as a hand or footprint - all aspects of the depth of human life and experience.
My oil on paper work began when I accidentally spilt a small pot of liquid paint over some A4 sheets of paper and, in attempting to wipe it off, I was attracted by the colour and tones that were left. I continued to experiment further using a wide range of colours to produce my source material.'
Barron has recently joined ArtCan, a non-profit arts organisation that supports artists through profile raising activities and exhibitions, an open network of likeminded peers and practical support structures.