Javier Barilaro

Argentina, 1974. Javier Barilaro is an Argentine painter, editor, and graphic designer. He has held solo and group exhibitions of his work since 2000. Notable among them are “Solo Exhibition, Luna en Sagitario, Verdulería Sagitario” (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2019), “The Graphic Industry Produces Culture, Solo Exhibition, Otero” (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2015), “Latest Trends II, Group Exhibition, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires” (Argentina, 2012), “200 years 200 books, Group Exhibition, Centro Cultural Haroldo Conti” (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2011), among others. In 2003, he co-founded the artistic-literary cooperative Eloísa Cartonera with writer Washington Cucurto and artist Fernanda Laguna. In 2006, he co-founded the publishing house Mansalva, of which he was the art director until 2019.

Javier Barilaro seeks to create new possible scenarios through spontaneity and humor. In his practice, he portrays an authorial reconstruction of surreal landscapes, where he places the tropics, laden with his lush imagery, in the Argentine pampas as the main protagonist. When topological rigor is not a necessary condition, imagination gains ground where the focus is allegorical. Visual interpretation is guided and enriched by the inclusion of daring fragmentary texts in the form of confessions and endless circles. In Barilaro’s recent style, a background of tempera and/or acrylic underlies a base tone in lighter or darker stripes. Emulating Mark Rothko, the artist refers to this process as “rothkear” the work. The water base of the materials he uses allows the work to be digitally finished (with digits, that is, fingers) and with trapping (with wet rags). What remains is a pigmented mud, a Pampean mud that does not succumb to the dream, but chooses it as an allied field of literature and imagination, of stories. In his work, the delicate and the fierce coexist in assistance to unify the seemingly opposing intimate impulses of an artist.

Javier Barilaro
Born in 1974 in Buenos Aires, Argentina

SOLO SHOWS

2015       La Industria Gráfica Produce Cultura, Otero, Buenos Aires, AR

2012       Australys, Miaumiau, Buenos Aires, AR

2011       El Paraguayo y otros Imperios, María Casado Home Gallery, San Isidro, Buenos Aires, AR

2010       Aguas grandes, Cosmocosa, Buenos Aires, AR

2009       Un guión para muchas películas, Galería Braga Menendez, Buenos Aires, AR

               En camino a Paraguay, site-specific work in a suite of the Panamerican Hotel, Buenos Aires, AR

2007       Proyecto Vidriera, intervención de la vidriera de Isidro Miranda, Buenos Aires, AR

               Salado, Galería Braga Menendez, Buenos Aires, AR

               Summer, Argentine Embassy in London, UK

2006       Nosotros, Galería Belleza y Felicidad, Buenos Aires, AR

2003       Paraíso: Chaparrones Musicales Vol. 2, Galería Belleza y Felicidad, Buenos Aires, AR

2002      Géminis, Galería Belleza y Felicidad, Buenos Aires, AR

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2016       Belleza y Felicidad Fiorito, Villa Fiorito, AR

2016       ArteBA Focus, Buenos Aires, AR

2015       Keret, Otero, Buenos Aires, AR

2012       Ultimas Tendencias II, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, AR

2011       200 años 200 libros, Centro Cultural de la Memoria Haroldo Conti, Buenos Aires, AR

2010       Open House, Argentine Ambassador’s Residence in London, UK

2009       “El deseo uruguayo” in 100 Años de la Feria de Tristán Narvaja: Tiempo, Señales y Objetos, SUBTE, Montevideo, UY

                Eldorado, Planta Alta, Asunción, PY

2008        Primera Exposicion de Arte Cartonero, Planta Alta, Asunción, PY

                Límite Sud/South Limit, Buenos Aires, AR

                Tropicalísima, Centro Cultural Rojas, Buenos Aires, AR

2005        Country, Consulate General of Argentina in New York, US

2004-05   Civilzación y Barbarie. Argentinos Contemporáneos, organized by the Argentine Chancellery, a travelling exhibition in Latin America, curated by Sonia Becce