Nathan Barnes, a U alumnus, is making meaningful art by attaching his relationships and family history to his pieces without sticking to one traditional style.
Barnes who has created his most recent portfolio based off of his relationships — or as he defines it — those people who are “in orbit” with him.
The portfolio is called “Strangely Familial,” and it includes all sorts of relationships, from family to friends.
Barnes graduated from the U in the early 2000s with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts and an emphasis in painting and drawing. The skill-based component of his education is what gave him the basic training he needed for the work he does now. His artwork has become part of multiple exhibits and gallerys throughout the western U.S.
Barnes not only uses all types of paints, but also includes found objects and other shapes to change his artwork surfaces. Barnes likes traditional styles of art that have been produced in the past, but also said that “nothing is sacred,” and as a result he doesn’t believe in remaining consistent with one style.
Most of Barnes’ art on his website features portraits of those in his life. Although he has the skills to make portraits that look identical to their subjects, he doesn’t want to, and instead prizes the ability to put his own artistic spin on each to create meaningful pieces. He enjoys forming portraits by keeping in mind the relationship between the subject of the painting and himself.
In his online portfolio is a piece titled “The Poet’s Instrument” which features his older sister with a larynx inside an opened mouth, placed unconventionally on one of her cheeks. Creations like this one speak to parts of his sister’s identity. An enthusiast in the field of anthropology, she had owned a book that included the difference between how a primate can breathe and drink at the same time due to the larynx, but a human baby grows up to only be able to do one or the other, which provided the inspiration Barnes needed to make the piece come to life.
A small line of poetry is also shown, which his sister wrote at a young age, that reads, “So the water took the pure in hand. And laid them gently on the land.” It’s these little messages that bring together each piece of art that Barnes produces.
Lately he has also been working on art projects relating to his ancestors, though he isn’t quite done yet with the subject, as he still has research to do. His great, great, great grandfather, John Pack, was a polygamist with eight wives. This story in particular led to Barnes painting “Diaspora,” a portraiture with two heads in the center and colorful dots around them meant to represent Pack and his progeny.
To view more of his work, check out his site nathanbarnesart.com.
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