Barry was born in post-war
London, England. He saw up-close the sad beauty of distorted shapes and
structures of many of the bombed-out buildings waiting to be flattened
and rebuilt, but for a young impressionable mind the ‘bomb sites’ were
some of the best places to play. There was always a sense of danger
(that was cool), always an insight to irregular patterns of half
collapsed walls, broken bricks, twisted wood and steel as well as ornate
details of masonry from a different era; part of the unintended mosaic
at his feet. He was a sponge for the visual drama.
Turkish Light
Acrylic on canvas
48X48"
His
grandfather, an artist in the Norman Rockwell vein, taught Barry at
a young age the fundamentals of drawing and muscle tone; about the
vanishing point and perspective; how to frame a live scene and how
to see through squinted eyes, as well as light and shadow and
importantly, how to use precious paint in short supply.
Overboard
Acrylic on canvas
36X36"
At college,
he took an elective 3-year art program—again the fundamentals of
drawing and composition. But impressionism and cubism and
Modigliani, etc. poked holes in his training. He was a sponge again,
at The Tate, at The National Gallery and the Royal Academy of
Arts—the Bauhaus exhibit is still fixed in his memory.
Stellato
Acrylic on canvas
48X48"
In the mid
1960’s he worked in Rome surrounded by the classical masters and
then in Milan where he was stunned by an exhibition of contemporary
American artists who broke all the rules: Pollock, Rothko, de
Kooning, Gorky, Hofmann and others.
Bang!
Acrylic & Oil on canvas
48X48"
Barry’s
artistic influences have come from an eclectic range of sources;
classicism, impressionism and contemporary styles, the Bauhaus
movement, abstract impressionism, minimalist graphics as well as
Ojibwa and Australian Aborigine art. The artists who have influenced
him most are: Caravaggio, Turner, Monet, Miro, Gauguin, Modigliani,
Braque, Kandinsky, Klee, Rothko, Pollock and Olsen, among others.
Acid Rain
Acrylic & Oil on canvas
48X48"
He lives happily in
St-Lazare, Québec, near Montreal, with his wife Danièle.
Luce Pizzicato
Acrylic on canvas
72X48"
Barry Melsom
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