ALVARO BARRINGTON

Thaddaeus Ropac is pleased to present Soul to Seoul, Alvaro Barrington’s first exhibition in Korea. Drawing on his experience of growing up in the Caribbean as well as the work of artists Etel Adnan (1925–2021), Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011), Henri Matisse (1869–1954) and some of his contemporaries, such as Joe Bradley and Peter Doig, this body of work blends the artist’s personal memories with art-historical references. Exploring how art can be an active part and a reflection of carnival culture, each year Barrington develops a new body of work for London’s Notting Hill Carnival that dresses the Mangrove Steelband performance truck. In 2024, the artist produced a series of paintings depicting the Caribbean landscape in response to the annual theme ‘Odyssey – Enchanted Voyage’. The body of work on view in Seoul also references quilt-making techniques and the Caribbean history of artistic expression through fabric and sewing. Pieces of burlap – a recurring medium in the artist’s practice – have been collaged together to dictate the composition of each painting.