Rafael Barrios

RAFAEL BARRIOS (Venezuela, 1947),
Untitled, 1987.
Polychrome wood. Exemplary 1/3.
Measurements: 110 x 50 x 30 cm.
In this work Rafael Barrios plays with the forms, altering the laws of geometry, fabulating the volume in space. Vertiginous elevations make his virtual works seem to stand on themselves, defying the laws of space, relieving bodies that should be subject to gravity. Rafael Barrios' works are identified by a set of dynamism, lightness, strength and magnetism, which is imprinted in each individual creation to reach the spirit of the viewer.
Rafael Barrios is a Venezuelan born in 1947 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. Barrios studied drawing and painting at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, Venezuela, which led to his first recognition with the "Pintura Nacional Juvenil" award in 1963. After completing his basic studies in Venezuela and Canada, he received a scholarship from J. Walter Thompson International to attend the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, Canada, graduating with honors in "Pure Art" and "Communication and Design". He obtained a scholarship from New York University (USA) to attend its Graduate Program in "Fine Arts" and "Monumental Sculpture Techniques". He received several national and international awards: "The Sculpture Award", Ernesto Avellán Exhibition; the McLean Foundation Scholarship, highest award granted by the Ontario College of Art, Canada; The "Excelentísima Diputado Pronvicial de la Frontera" Decoration, for his Monumental Sculpture titled "Tercer Horizonte", to commemorate the 500 years of the Discovery of America, in Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, Spain; "Second Prize" in the Biennial of Visual Arts of the Contemporary Museum Sofía Imber Caracas, in Venezuela; "Throughout his career as an artist, Rafael Barrios has worked as Art Director for UNESCO, as Creative Consultant for the film creations "Latin Touch" and as Scenographer for Chris Von Wangenheim in Vogue and Esquire magazines, in New York, United States. He was Professor of "Tridimensionality and Advertising" at the Neumann Foundation of Design, in Caracas, Venezuela; Set Designer for the presentation of "DanzaHoy" in Expo-Sevilla, Spain; and Set Designer for Hervé Leger in his show "Carrouselle du Louvre", in Paris, France.
Many of his works can be found in public spaces, such as the murals of the Polar Foundation, Caracas; Art et Industry, New York; the headquarters of Coca-Cola International in New York; the monumental sculptures of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber; the headquarters of Banco Consolidado (now CorpBanca) in Caracas; the building of Seguros Venezuela in Caracas; and the headquarters of Procter & Gamble in Caracas. Rafael Barrios has exhibited in the United States, Europe, South America and other Latin American countries, as well as in the Middle East. His work is in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Carmen Lammana Foundation in Toronto, Canada; the Galería de Arte Nacional de Caracas; the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber; the private collections of H.R.H. Don Juan Carlos de Borbón, King of Spain (Levitating Simetry); and the collection of H.R.H. Gloria, Princess of Germany.