Location: United Kingdom
Garry Barker is an artist interested in creating visual narratives. These are often developed in response to stories told by local people. Conversations overheard and reflected upon, are used to stimulate a growing body of imagery that consciously refers back to Breughel, Goya, George Cruickshank and Stanley Spencer.
See more of his work at:
http://garrybarkeronline.com/
Details and studies from narratives of Chapeltown.
“A blood transfusion from nature”
A detail from a large drawing of local politics and tales about gardening
Gardeners dig and so do the people that come to repair our street services, there is something underground they all search for.
The local streets have many marches and demonstations, some religious and others political
Some large drawings have many deaths to remember, this is a study of one of them
“Back Newton Grove, Chapeltown”
These drawings are about 8 feet high, impossible to photograph as details make for giant files and low res images blur out.
This is how the large drawings are worked out. Lots of studies are mentally stitched together, until a large image forms and this is slowly built up as a new drawing. Each large image probably has about 50 studies behind it.
Coming home from a local fair, I watched a crowd watching someone dying.
Our streets get jammed with people especially at carnival time. It can get frightening.