Carlos Barrios was born in San Salvador, El Salvador,Central America and now lives and works in the Currumbin Valley in Queensland. Ancient sites and pyramids have influenced his work.
“I would stare into them [artefacts] and found myself transported to other dimensions, times and spaces. Everything was talking to me especially clouds and shadows, they seemed to describe a space between reality and fantasy, filled with adventures.”
Carlos Barrios began painting figures and creatures from his imagination at the age of six. However, when he was ten, civil war broke out and Barrios found himself illustrating the horrific scenes of war.
“The civil war began when I was ten and lasted over ten years. In this war time madness and normality coexisted. Many nights the electricity was cut and in the candle lit spaces of the house I saw creatures moving and watching us, so I would paint and draw them. As I worked, I would watch my hand moving, creating the figures and creatures, I was the onlooker, the witness to this seemingly automatic unfolding of pictures, visual descriptions.”
The focus of his artworks is to paint the good he believes is in everyone. This is the reason many of his paintings are filled with figures, “I must paint people”, Barrios explains. Barrios has been a finalist in several art prizes including the Blake Prize, Sulman Prize, NSW Plein Air ArtPrize and the Fisher Ghost Art Prize.
Education
1991 - 1992
National Art School
Selected Awards
2013 Finalist, Fisher Ghost Art Prize, Campbelltown, Arts Centre, NSW
2012 Finalist, Fisher Ghost Art Prize, Campbelltown, Arts Centre, NSW
2011 Finalist, NSW Plein Air Art Prize, Parliament House, Sydney
2010 First Prize for Drawing, Liverpool City Art Prize, NSW
2010 Finalist, Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing
2010 Finalist, NSW Plein Air Art Prize, Parliament House, Sydney
2009 Finalist, Modern Two – Dimensional, Liverpool City Art Prize, NSW
2009 Finalist, NSW Plein Air Art Prize, Parliament House, Sydney
2007 Finalist, Blake Prize, Sydney
2006 Finalist, Blake Prize, Sydney
2006 Finalist, Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2005 Finalist, Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Hola Amor - Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2022 Totems - Mitchell Fine Arts, Brisbane
2021 Love, hope and devotion - Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2021 Later works - Aarwun Gallery, Canberra
2019 Amor en el campo – love in the country side, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2019 Undefined Dreams, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane
2018 New Works, Mitchell Fine Art, Newrybar, NSW
2018 Sunny Day in Australia, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2018 New Beginning - Carlos Barrios, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2018 Fiesta, Aarwun Gallery, Canberra
2017 Reveal Revelation, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2016 Transcendence, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane
2015 Hola Aloha Hi, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2015 Recent Works On Paper, Gallery Bodalla
2015 In Lak’Ech – You Are My Other Me (Mayan Greeting), Wombat Hollow, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2014 Momentos, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2014 Allegory, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2013 Surrender, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2012 Watchando, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2012 Carlos Barrios, Goulburn Regional Gallery, NSW
2010 Memories, Pasion Y Lineas, Loft Gallery, Bowral, NSW
2009 Figures & Lines, Gallery Bodalla, Bodalla
2009 In to the Void, Painter's Gallery, Mona Vale, Sydney
2008 The Joy to Be Here, Bowral, Southern Highlands, NSW
2008 Trazos, El Salvador
2007 Solo Exhibition, Painter's Gallery, Mona Vale, Sydney
2006 Urban Familia, Wallspace Gallery, Sydney
2006 Personajes, La Pinacoteca, San Salvador
2005 Desnudos, Angeles I Espiritus, Bondi Pavilion, Sydney
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020 Primaveral, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane
2020 Summer group show, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2020 Director’s Choice, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane
2019 Petite, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane
2019 New works to the collection, Newcastle Regional Gallery, NSW
2019 Les Petits Travaux, Aarwun Gallery, Canberra
2019 Director’s Choice, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane
2018 Peace, Place, Prizes and Pictures In Between, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, NSW
2018 Director’s Choice, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane
2018 Denfair – Metro Gallery, Melbourne Convention Centre
2017 Petite, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane
2017 Summer group show, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2016 Reveal, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane
2015 Drawn To Clay, Sturt Gallery, Mittagong
2015 Summer Group Show, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2015 Por Amor - For Love, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2014 Blue Horse, Korea
2014 Group Show, Wombat Hollow, Southern Highlands, NSW
2014 Oneness, Milk Factory Gallery, Bowral
2013 Auto Portrait, Eccosse Gallery, Exeter, NSW
2013 Group Show, El Salvador, Central America
2013 Group Show, Mudgee
2013 Group Show, New England Gallery, Armidale
2012 Ceramic Show at Paddington, NSW
2012 Group Show, San Salvador, El Salvado
2012 Group Show, Southern Highlands, NSW
2012 Group Show, New England Gallery, Armidale
2010 Permanent Exhibition, Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern Galleries, Paddington, NSW
2010 Group Exhibition, Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern Galleries, Paddington, NSW
2009 Salon de Petits Tableaux, The Milk Factory, Bowral
2009 Creating the Body, Perl Contemporary Art, Vaucluse
2009 Reflections of Australia, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
2008 Group Exhibition, Washington DC, US
2008 Treasure of Seeds, International Group Exhibition, Jenolan Caves, NSW
2008 Group Exhibition, Mosman, Sydney
2008 Miami Art Fair, Miami US
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