Carlos Barrios

Born in El Salvador in Central America, Carlos Barrios now lives in the Currumbin Valley Queensland with his wife, children, dogs and chickens.

In terms of the origins of his arts practice and the complexity of his visual language, Carlos articulates being influenced by exposure to his fathers profession (an archaeologist) as a child. Carlos grew up exploring remnants of ancient cultures and was surrounded by artefacts and art. This had a huge impact of the artists perception of the world around him, Carlos began painting figures and creatures from his imagination at the age of six.

Carlos is well versed in a variety of mediums, all of which he executes with incredible skill, including works on paper, canvas and ceramic. His artworks are populated by figures and faces, totems and animals. The people are often dancing, embracing or captured in the acts of everyday life … simple and unaffected.His paintings vibrate with a sense of magic and naivety and the effortless intuition of the mark marking is reminiscent of Picasso’s hand. The artworks are filled with positivity and are a celebration of humour, soulfulness, love and sensuality.

Carlos Barrios is very well collected both in Australia and internationally. The artist has been a finalist in several art prizes including the Blake Prize, Sulman Prize, NSW Plein Air Art Prize and the Fisher Ghost Art Prize.