Barry Wolfryd, an artist
who lives both in California and Mexico is producing innovative work
based on a fusion of the two cultures he resides in. His work is about
the intensity of the two worlds he shares.
In 1985 he moved to Mexico City and established his New Jersey – Aztec
studio in the colonio Roma. During his residence in Mexico City he was
an active player in the formation of the current Mexican contemporary
art movement. Many of the current and established artists in the city
exhibited at Out Gallery, a collaborative artist workspace and gallery
project that Barry founded. Along with other avant-garde projects and
spaces, Barry helped to create what is now one of the world’s most
dynamic art scenes.
In a social artistic context, his work can be seen as a Dadaist metaphor;
twisted by the Frank Zappa culture, (“Call any vegetable and the
chances are good that the vegetable will respond to you”) in which
he grew up and the culture of cynicism (“Chingar o ser chingado”),
as stated by Octavio Paz that he lived in.
Like the Dadaist before him, Barry uses the ordinary and makes it the
focus of attention. Various icons, symbols and everyday objects give
him the visual tools necessary to reveal and critique all at the same
time. He makes a severe and unrelenting assault on these two very different
worlds.
The icons and objects in his work are part of a larger internalization.
Unlike Pop Art of the 60’s that defined fine art through the use
of everyday objects as art, his canvases become the narrative of ourselves
in a crazy landscape, or urban setting, exposing what is evident and
unpredictable. |