This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Sculptor Bill Barrett was born in Los Angeles, California and studied
at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he received both a
B.S. and a M.S. in design, as well as an MFA. A longtime resident
of New York City, Barrett now divides his time between Santa Fe and New
York. His work has been widely shown in major museums and
galleries coast to coast and in Switzerland and Japan. In
addition, many of his works are owned by both corporate and private
collector.
Barrett works in three stages: A small bronze
maquette, which the author Michael Brenson has described as "typically
quirky, experimental, and figurative." The next stage involves blowing
up the work into welded and polished aluminum. At this stage the
sculpture is, as Brenson writes, "lighter now and closer in form and
structure to Cubism and David Smith." Finally, Barrett creates more
airy, and the effect is increasingly architectural . . . with a
lightness and directness" (Michael Brenson, "The New York Times", 1985).
Barrett's
approach to art is basically humanistic. "Art helps people understand
themselves better," he says. "I come from an expressionist attitude
about what art is for. It's an involvement, that of the artist with his
art and that of the art with the viewer. It becomes a very intimate
conversation among the three, which is not new. It's always been this
way. (Personal interview, Valentine Riddell, Santa Fe, 1992)
Source:
Mark Sublette, Medicine Man Gallery, Inc. | |
Biography from LewAllen Galleries at the Santa Fe Railyard:
|  Bill Barrett, a sculptor, was born in Los Angeles, CA. He earned
a BS and an MS in Design from the University of Michigan, and later an
MFA from the same institution. Since the mid 1960s, Barrett has been
exhibiting his metal sculptures and abstract paintings in numerous solo
and group exhibitions in such places as Switzerland, Bulgaria and Japan
as well as in the United States.
Barrett’s sculptures of
fabricated aluminum, bronze or steel address the interplay between
positive and negative space with grace, elegance and exquisite
balance. His works call to mind the fluid effortlessness of
calligraphic strokes and betray a positivism to which many viewers feel
drawn. Others have said that Barrett’s sculptures are distinctly
American in their directness and lightness. His sophisticated
constructions, through a delicate balance of form and content,
transcend the starker aesthetics of minimalism with a warmth and
humanity.
Barrett is represented in numerous private and public
collections. Museum collections include the Aldrich Museum of
Contemporary Art, CT; the Cleveland Museum of Art, OH; the Knoxville
Museum of Art, TN; the Museum of Fine Arts, NM; the Harwood Museum, NM;
the Fine Arts Museum of Oklahoma City, OK; the International Foundation
Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, VA; the
Utsukushi-ga-Hara Open Air Museum, Tokyo, Japan; and Runnymede
Sculpture Farm, CA. His works have been installed on many
university campuses, and he is frequently called upon to produce large
public sculpture by commission. |
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