Irene Barberis, is an Australian/British artist, based in Melbourne and London. She is a painter primarily, working also with installation, drawing, and new media art. She is also the founding director of an international arts research centre, and is an international curator and writer.[1][2]
1996-2001 Doctor of Philosophy, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia 1992-1994 Master of Fine Art, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University, Australia 1979-1981 Keith and Elizabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship, (taken up in Paris, Cite des Arte) 1977-1978 Post Graduate Diploma, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria 1975 Graduate Diploma of Art and Design (Painting), Phillip Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia 1972-1974 Prahran College of Advanced Education, (Painting), Melbourne, Australia
Life
Barberis was born in Chiswick in London, in 1953.[3] She grew up in rural Victoria and began studying classical ballet at the age of three, giving it up after an injury at the age of nineteen. Barberis became the partner of the Australian artist Robert Hunter between 1973 and 1977, travelling with him to New York, for his exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, and then to Europe.[4] Returning to Australia from this journey, aged 22, she completed her BFA at the Preston Institute with friends, peers and lecturers including Peter Booth, Dale Hickey, Dominico De Clario. De Clario included her in her first group exhibition in 1976, Drawing Some Definitions at the then George Paton Gallery, Melbourne University.[5] She completed a Post Graduate Diploma of Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, VCA, in Melbourne. On receiving the 1979 Keith and Elizabeth Murdoch Fellowship from the VCA, Barberis travelled to Paris in late 1979 after receiving an Australia Council Grant and receiving the Australian Power Studio at the Cite des Arts, Paris. She lived, worked and exhibited at the Cite des Arts from 1980, returning to Australia in late 1982. She married Australian sculptor Adrian L. Page in 1984 and in 1988 had their one child Rebekah Georgia Page. She completed an MFA at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University in 1994 and a PhD on Abstract and Figurative Elements of the Apocalypse and its Representations in 2000. She is a Senior lecturer at the RMIT University School of Art and lectures in painting in the School of Art program in Hong Kong, at the Hong Kong Art School. She is the Founder and Director of the Global Centre for Drawing, Director of Metasenta Publications in Melbourne, Australia.[6] and is Co Director of Gallery Langford120 (with Wilma Tabacco).[7] Barberis has been the International Critic for the New York-based, 'Rome Art Program' for five years and is associated with the SACI Institute in Florence, Italy.[8]
Work
Barberis has been making art since the mid-1970s, and was a post graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, winning the Keith and Elizabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship in 1979. She gradually adopted Biblical subject matter in her work.[9] She has exhibited internationally since the 1980s. In 2005, she initiated and was part of the exhibition "Intersections: Reading the Space" at the Jewish Museum of Australia,[9] which was exhibited in 2005 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco.[10] Other exhibitions include "Trancentric," London, 2008,[11] "The Agency of Words" Lethaby Gallery, London, Text Festival 2009, Bury Museum and Art Gallery, Manchester, UK, "Apocalypse; Seven Histories into Futures", Arc Biennial 2009, Brisbane, Australia, 'Lines of Thinking, Langford120 in 2011, and Apocalypse/Revelation: Re Looking, 2012. Her major project 'The Tapestry of Light' in collaboration with 4 international scholars including Emerita Professor Michelle.P. Brown ( University of London), and Scientist, Professor David Mainwaring ( Swinburne University), is in process and is due for completion in 2017. The Visual Arts Centre, La Trobe University, Bendigo has hosted the latest exhibition which includes works made by the Australian Tapestry Workshop.
The LeWitt Project
The LeWitt Project:Ten Countries, 2019, onwards. Barberis met Sol LeWitt in New York in 1974, and they remained friends till his passing in 2007. She has been a friend of the LeWitt family for over thirty years. Barberis was the first artist to make work in Sol LeWitt’s Chester Studio, apart from his daughter, the artist Eva LeWitt, spending more than seven and a half months over three residencies, researching and making work in his space on an average of ten hours a day, exploring the relationships and synergies in their work, and LeWitt’s studio processes, especially his gouaches.
In 2019 Barberis conceived the idea of The LeWitt Project, a long term research and exhibition program across ten countries, looking at the influence of Sol LeWitt and his ideas. Commencing in the UK at the DJCAD University of Dundee in 2023 - Barberis was made an Honorary Fellow to work on both The LeWitt Project, UK and her new nanoparticle tapestry work on LeWitt – followed by Melbourne, Australia at RMIT University 2024 -The LeWitt Project, Australia, and Hong Kong in 2024 – The LeWitt Project, Hong Kong/China.
In 2022, Barberis published a wonderful, vastly illustrated book on Sol LeWitt’s Chester studio. The photographic documentation explores LeWitt’s studio as he left it after his untimely death in 2007. The 264 page book is only available exclusively from Metasenta Publishing.
The Tapestry of Light (1998-2018 ongoing)
Barberis’ The Tapestry of Light: A 21st Century Apocalypse; Intersections of Illumination is a research project of more than 20 years. Barberis completed her PhD on the Abstract and Figurative Elements of the Apocalypse and Its Representations for the millennial change in 2000, out of this research came The Tapestry of Light artwork. One of its research aspects is to define the role of 'light' in a modern exploration of the classical iconography of the ‘Last Days.’ Framed by the key 14th-century artwork the ‘Angers Tapestry’, the research is located at the intersection of artistic design, science and perception of illumination and colour, medieval culture, and imagery. The resulting creative work in its exhibited form asks: Can new intersections of contemporary thought and scientific perception and the Apocalypse, open new domains of understanding through the immersive qualities of such an artwork?
The Tapestry of Light artwork is a 3.2 x 36 metre full cycle of the Apocalypse, constructed from traditional threads and cutting-edge nano particle phosphorescent science (developed by Professor David E. Mainwaring). It is a light-forming, responsive-tapestry in which the perception of the images evolves as the light environment changes. It was woven on a jacquard loom by the famous Flanders Tapestry. The Tapestry of Light has fourteen panels: eight 1mt x1.2mts, four panels of 4mts x 3.2 mts, and two panels of 6 mts x 3 .2mts. Situated above the images is the entire Book of Revelation text, which hovers 3 mts above the floor when exhibited in a darkened space. The central images of four of the large panels contain early paintings and drawings of the Apocalypse by Barberis. Two of the four metre panels contain 64 separate images in star formations, from the Angers Tapestry; the full cycle was re-drawn, and re-miniaturised in a 21st century setting, forming the first full Apocalypse cycle by a female artist in over 500 years. It gives new knowledge in its re-presentation of the Apocalypse to a 21st century audience, and in its art and science foci, expression, and knowledge transfers between Medieval Europe to present technologies. Emerita Professor Michelle. P. Brown (University of London) is the work’s international Curator. Alain Arnold, Ordo Praedicatorum |Official (Santa Sabina, Rome) was the Curator at St Gudula Cathedral, Brussels, and Amy Van Dyke, the Curator at the Museum of the Bible, Washington DC.
In 2017, the artwork was first shown at St Michael and St Gudula Cathedrals (Brussels). It was then shown at Canterbury Cathedral, followed by Canterbury Festival (UK) with 14,500 visitors. In 2019-2020, It was shown at the Museum of the Bible (Washington DC, USA). In addition to extensive media coverage globally, the work has been the subject of numerous conference and journal publications.
Metasenta
Barberis is the founding director of Metasenta[12] an international arts research hub, supported by a number of universities including RMIT University in Melbourne and the University of the Arts, London.[1] She has been director of its hubs and projects since this time. Her work with Metasenta has included initiating international art projects, exhibitions, publications and films. She founded and directed the mobile gallery, The DrawingSpace, Melbourne, an extension of her 2004 Public Arts Commission, A Kineaesthetic Experience: 10 Works which utilised dormant spaces around Frankston, Victoria. Metasenta is known for published and commissioned books.[13] For example, Barberis, on behalf of Metasenta, commissioned a new survey of Australian drawing, Contemporary Australian Drawing #1.[14]
Barberis curated the large international survey exhibition Across the Gulf; Bahrain Dubai and Abu Dhabi: 22 Artists for the 2009 Arc Biennial Brisbane.[15] Barberis has also concentrated on major drawing exhibitions including in 2010 Contemporary Australian Drawing#1, 35 Artists, RMIT Gallery, and Contemporary Australian Drawing #2, 84 Artists, University of the Arts London, Gallery Langford 120, 2012. She was international Chair of the Conference" Crossing the Line: Drawing in the Middle East", which formed a dialogue through drawing at the beginning of the Arab Spring. Crossing the Line: Drawing in the Middle East2 Conference was held in Dubai in September 2014 in which Barberis was the initiator and International Chair. Contemporary Australian Drawing #4 was held in September 2013 at the New York Studio School and included 94 Australian Artists. A number of Barberis' initiatives and philosophies on Drawing through the university systems, Galleries and Drawing Centres is documented in the June Issue of the Australian Journal, Imprint', 'The Good Drawing', University of the Arts London, 2012 and "The Drawn Word; even if I write my name I am drawing", 2014.
Related Research Articles
Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism.
Godwin Bradbeer is a New Zealand-born artist now living and working in Melbourne, Australia. Bradbeer is known for large-scale figurative drawing and has been exhibited internationally since the 1970s. He has taught at the University of Melbourne, the Victorian College of the Arts, Monash University, and other art schools in Australia and Asia. From 2005 to 2010, he was head of drawing of the School of Art at RMIT University in Melbourne.
Vivienne Joyce Binns is an Australian artist known for her contribution to the Women's Art Movement in Australia, her engagement with feminism in her artwork, and her active advocacy within community arts. She works predominantly in painting.
Gareth Sansom is an Australian artist, painter, printmaker and collagist and winner of the 2008 John McCaughey Memorial Prize of $100,000.
Kaldor Public Art Projects is an Australian non-profit arts organisation established in 1969 by John Kaldor. The organisation collaborates with international artists to create site-specific art projects in public spaces in Australia.
Anne Judell is an Australian artist and winner of the 2011 Dobell Prize for drawing.
Harriet Edquist is an Australian historian and curator, and Professor Emerita in the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University in Melbourne. Born and educated in Melbourne, she has published widely on and created numerous exhibitions in the field of Australian architecture, art and design history. She has also contributed to the production of Australian design knowledge as the founding editor of the RMIT Design Archives Journal and is a member of the Design Research Institute at RMIT University.
Ilka Jane White is an Australian artist. Her practice spans projects in textiles, drawing, sculpture and installation, art-in-community and cross disciplinary collaboration. Direct engagement with the natural world is central to White’s making process. Her current work explores relationships between the mind, body, time and place, and questions the separation of these elements.
Julian Martin is an Australian artist, known primarily for his pastel drawings and self-portraits. Martin resides in the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster, and has worked from his Northcote-based studio at Arts Project Australia since 1989, where he has also had numerous solo shows. He has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally [see Exhibitions] and in 1994 he was a finalist in the prestigious Moët & Chandon Travelling Fellowship. In 2014 he was the winner of the Australian State Trustees Connected art prize. His work is held in several public collections, including the Deakin University Art Collection, the City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection and Monash University Museum of Art.
Valerio Ciccone is an Australian artist who is best known for his drawings of mass-media events and icons taken from popular culture. He has worked from his Northcote-based studio at Arts Project Australia since 1984, where he has also had numerous solo shows. He has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally [see Exhibitions] and his work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Trinkhall Museum, Liège, and the National Sports Museum.
Lisa Reid is an Australian artist, known primarily for her highly detailed figurative works in a variety of mediums. Reid has worked from her Northcote-based studio at Arts Project Australia since 2000, where she held her first solo show in 2015. She has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally and her work was recently selected for the landmark exhibition Painting. More Painting, at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne. Her work is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Dorothy Berry is an Australian artist working in the genres of Outsider art, and Art Brut, based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is known primarily for her densely composed depictions of animals and birdlife, executed in pastel. Berry resides in the Melbourne suburb of Kingsbury and has worked from her Northcote-based studio at Arts Project Australia since 1985. Berry's work has been represented in four solo exhibitions, and has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally in group shows, including ‘My Puppet, My Secret Self’, at the Substation, Newport; ‘Inside Out/Outside In’, Access Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and ‘Turning the Page’, Gallery 101, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Her work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and MADMusée, Liège, Belgium, and the Centre for Australian Art.
Kate Beynon is an Australian contemporary artist based in Melbourne.
Jennifer Joseph is a Melbourne-based artist whose work aligns closely with the aestheticism of the Abstract art movement. In 1971 Joseph received her diploma of Arts and Crafts from Melbourne Teachers' College. She went on to study Fine Art part-time at RMIT University, Australia between 1977 until 1979. Despite her foray with art school and education, Joseph considers herself essentially self-taught.
Gabby O'Connor is an Australian Installation Artist based in Wellington, New Zealand.
Elizabeth Gower is an Australian abstract artist who lives and works in Melbourne. She is best known for her work in paper and mixed-media monochrome and coloured collages, drawn from her sustained practice of collecting urban detritus.
Sanné Mestrom is an Australian experimental and conceptual artist who works mainly in the mediums of installation and sculpture. Mestrom has a research-based practice and incorporates notions of "play" into social aspects of urban design. Since 2011, Mestrom has remade and reinterpreted motifs from the twentieth century modernist art canon. She has earned many grants and has been commissioned to execute public art, sculptures in situ. She has studied in Korea and Mexico, and is a senior lecturer at Sydney College of Art.
Angela Cavalieri is an Australian printmaker, whose work recreates text and narratives in visual form and was included in the Venice Biennale, 2011.
Hertha Kluge-Pott is a German-born Australian printmaker based in Melbourne.
Simone LeAmon is an Australian designer, artist and curator. LeAmon is currently the inaugural Hugh D.T Williamson Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and an adjunct professor, Design and Social Context, RMIT University.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
