Happy Wednesday! I hope you are all off to a great week! This week I was able to go to a new art exhibit in Saint Louis. It was breathtaking. Actually, as one of the artists explained in great length the meaning behind his work, I noticed I had gotten goosebumps.
The inspiration behind this artwork is to address the social and political issues involving race, social injustice, and gender and sexuality.
Howard Barry, the artist behind these pieces was able to chat with me for a bit. I had such a great time getting to know the meaning behind his work and the thought process he underwent when creating his pieces.
Howard is a brain injured veteran, so he said that he was very up and down when creating these. Some days he would be able to complete 7 pieces, and other days he just didn’t feel like doing anything.
He initially drew his inspiration for this series from the events of Ferguson that transpired a few years ago. His passion and purpose for this set was to grab people’s attention and hopefully draw their focus to the children in the paintings and drawings. If you look closely, there are a lot of tiny, symbolic details with hidden meanings in each piece. The girl on the left has protesters hidden in the designs of her shirt. The young boy on the upper right has a jail cell and its prisoners behind it hidden in the collar of his turtle neck. He chose a patterned background for some smaller prints to represent that many of the discriminatory issues are hidden, and suppressed.
I then continued to ask Howard what his call to action was. He told me that if anyone gets anything out of his work, it would be that they recognize their impact. “I want people to realize our words and actions impact children. They impact our future.”
You can catch Howard’s work and many other related works at the Kranzberg Arts Center on Grand Blvd in Saint Louis now until May 20th. I highly recommend checking it out!
xoxo
Mattea
Share this post: