Alvaro Barrington. Artists I Steal From

About

Etel Adnan, Emma Amos, Janine Antoni, Amelia Barratt, Alvaro Barrington, Georg Baselitz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, Joe Bradley, Lisa Brice, Derrick Alexis Coard, Robert Colescott, Thornton Dial, Louise Fishman, Gerasimos Floratos, Denzil Forrester, Katharina Grosse, Philip Guston, Charline von Heyl, Howard Hodgkin, Allison Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, Raoul de Keyser, Willem de Kooning, Jacob Lawrence, Agnes Martin, Chris Martin, Todd McFarlane, Archibald J. Motley Jr., Elizabeth Murray, Laura Owens, Elizabeth Peyton, André Pierre, Simonette Quamina, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Ryman, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Trevor Shimizu, Malick Sidibé, Amy Sillman, Mary T. Smith, Henry Taylor, Bob Thompson, Cy Twombly, Nari Ward, Andy Warhol, Issy Wood and Purvis Young.

Artists I Steal From is an exhibition about looking at art through the eyes of an artist. Artists have always borrowed from one another, however, few are as candid about their sources – about who they steal from and why – as the artist Alvaro Barrington (b. 1983, Caracas, Venezuela). The summer exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac London brings together works by over 40 artists, some of whom have never been shown in the UK, some who are considered to be the greatest artists of our time, all of whom have directly influenced the way Barrington creates, thinks and sees.
 
Artists always look at how other artists have solved the problems they are wrestling with, or have achieved the results they aspire to. The artists in this exhibition are those I look to, and steal from. It’s the particular inventiveness of their practice that fascinates me, as it has opened up a whole world for me and introduced me to new possibilities within my own painting. With Artists I Steal From I want to make people feel like they are having a conversation with the artworks, reflecting the conversation I am having with the artists.  
Alvaro Barrington

It’s an incredible window on the world, to see through the eyes of an artist, which is why one is inspired, informed and reconnected to oneself when looking at a great work of art. All artists steal from each other, but they don't usually admit to it, nor do they reveal their sources. With this exhibition Alvaro lays bare his thinking: what he is looking at as well as what informs and educates him, which is usually a private process. 
Julia Peyton-Jones­­