Out of the Archive: Agnes Barley
Painting by Agnes Barley
When I mentioned to Jen a few weeks back that I was working on a presentation about the artist Agnes Martin for one of my classes, she pointed out an interesting parallel to one of our very own jen bekman artists: Agnes Barley.
Barley’s most recent show at jen bekman was back in the fall of 2004 and featured painted works on paper.
The coincidence that Jen pointed out, however, is that not only was Agnes Barley influenced by Martin, she was actually named after her too (her full name is Agnes Martin Barley)!
With My Back to the World (1 of 6), Agnes Martin
People often made comparisons to landscape in Agnes Martin’s work, mostly because she spent the majority of her life in the desert of New Mexico. Her paintings and pencil drawn grids are meant to evoke feelings of beauty and happiness that one experiences when looking at nature but abstractly. Similarly Barley’s work explored inter-structural and intra-structural linear relationships while creating a sense of horizon and space metaphorically through her use of line.
For more information on Agnes (Martin) Barley check out her profile on the jen bekman site.
