Fernando Barreira

"Consecuencias", by Fernando Barreira, at the Museo Municipal de Ourense
Exhibition Consecuencias on La Voz de Galicia

The art of Fernando Barreira is strongly influenced by his long and continuous artistic training. He works in the fields of fashion, decoration, etching, drawing or advertising.

He has a clear focus, the pursuit of beauty through aesthetic pleasure. As artist Fernando, has eagerness for work. He desires to put his own personal experiences in his paintings, sculptures or paper, thereby seeking to establish a smooth relationship with the viewer and rewarding for both parties. His stays in Madrid, Ibiza, Portugal, France or even the Verín influence markedly in the peculiar way of presenting his universe.

Since 1992, his activity is extensive and continuous, motivated by the desire to expand his own feelings, experiences, and also by the presentation of new projects where we are not only surprised by the forms, but also by the media and techniques.

He is part of the Valarte Group, consisting of different artists all of them belonging to the region of Verín. This group is composed by artists of the High Támega.

On his work, we can see different features, both formal and conceptual, that occur in a consecutive manner:
* Faces that are obsessively repeated, in which the facial features are not the most important to represent, to the extent of lacking specific features such as eyes or mouth.
* Extensive and highly chromatic colours, dominated by the earth colours and the black.
* Magnification of the upper and lower extremities.
* Lack of volumes, putting the perspective aside.
* A variety of topics through the challenges religious, mythological, reviews the work of Velázquez (mainly his Meninas), typically Spanish figurative archetypes, animals, or even what the artist calls "fantasies", in giving total free rein to his
imagination.

We can say that all these characteristics appear in his work, whatever the support used. Therefore all these traits form a bridge between different modes of expression, creating a unifying characteristic that brings weight and also a certain awareness within the structure of his work.

But we must not overlook differences within the established field of sculpture and painting. In the first one, we can perceive a Fernando more concerned with the movement, the volume and recruitment details, reflected for example in the treatment of hair and clothing. In the case of painting, there are other concerns, he succeeds in translating the total fusion between reality and fiction, and it is that fiction can be considered as his own reality. It provides figures that occupy the entire space, presenting the backgrounds just as subtle and escorts, which hold each piece. It is for this reason that his characters bear the entire burden both compositional and structural and ideological.

Barreira explores also in other media, related to the world of painting, in which the paper is the only player. He cuts it, models it, plays with it, manipulates it to achieve the story he wants to represent. He generates a series of volumes, reaching the chiaroscuro. This plasticity in volumetric painting reaches its highest expression through fusion techniques, in which live a perfect painting and sculpture. He also paints canvas with sculptures, arranged as a bas-relief.

All the features that are in the works of Fernando Barreira are a clear reflection of the fact that he is an artist with an eye toward the future, although he never forgets his present and past, which is clearly exemplified in the choice of subjects.

The continuous search for new ways of expression and new stories to tell, cause a review of the work of other artists such as Velázquez or even Bacon, from whom he takes the blurred and vague faces.

His extensive training in various fields brings different influences, where we can see his relationship with the textile world. He represents tissues and brocades perfectly, clear evidence that they are materials he is used to, turning them into organic elements that occupy much of his work.

We can conclude by stating that the work of Fernando Barreira consists of feelings and dreams, baroque compositions loaded with colour and plasticity, in which the colour is strong but the line is infinite, cutting shapes and thereby highlighting their dark backgrounds, representing the dark side of his soul. His stories surround us, catches us up to the point that we seek not only the part that concerns to the artist, but also look for our own.

Barreira´s work is without a doubt the clear representation of the passion and excessiveness that surrounds the human being.