New Year | New Artists | New Work

About

Tarik Berber’s work offers a remarkable combination of two very different cultural worlds. He is of Bosniac origin. That is to say, he comes from the Muslim population of the always-contested territory of Bosnia, once part of the former Yugoslavia and now independent. Bosnia has a notably rich and complex cultural tradition and Tarik is a descendant of a celebrated family of artists. As a working artist, he still maintains close ties with the milieu from which he originates.

He trained, however, at the celebrated Florentine Academy, which offers perhaps the most rigorous of all trainings for painters. They grind their own colours, mix their own paints and make their own brushes, just as the apprentices did in the studios of the great Renaissance masters.

This profound respect for tradition shows itself very clearly in Berber’s work. His paintings, with their muted colours, often have the appearance of frescos. They also demonstrate a keen interest in classical principles of design – in the relationship of the form to the edges of the space within which they have been placed.

Tim Jones: (born 1975, England)

Tim Jones has been watching and painting modern, everyday life and architecture for many years. He has looked in detail at the reflections found in the buildings and facades in the city center. Glass refracts light like a prism, and splits it into many abstract colours and forms. People can be seen going about their business, either in crowds, couples or on their own, content with modern technology to keep them company, such as a mobile phone or a computer. Amidst a crowd there is always the lonely figure and often includes an empty wine glass in his paintings.

Juan Cossio: (born 1960, Spain)

Jaun Cossio’s tireless research and experimentation into pushing the boundaries of pictorial techniques led him to what is now more commonly known as ‘New Realism’. His work continues to evolve through an openness to approach and his continual curiosity in employing whatever new techniques are at hand in order to achieve his unique contemporary aesthetic which looks to the female nude as its main subject.