Michael Barringer's work is a harmonious blend of natural inspiration, familial craftsmanship, and profound literary influences. Influenced by the works of poets like TS Eliot and visual artists such as Brice Marden, his art seamlessly blends authenticity with meticulous craftsmanship. In his sun-drenched studio, accompanied by the soulful rhythms of jazz, Barringer channels his creativity into works that serve as conduits for sensations, emotions, and ideas.

His artistic process is a delicate dance of intention and serendipity, employing a diverse array of materials including acrylic paint, modeling paste, charcoal, graphite, colored pencils, and pastels. Through a meticulous process of layering, sanding, and scraping, Barringer's canvases evolve organically, mirroring nature's perpetual cycle of accumulation and erosion.

Artist Process

"Each painting I make is a symbol. They are not directly definable by rationality, and remain open-ended in meaning, existing as objects for our intuition to decipher. These paintings are rich in detail and subtle in their construction, so I like to think that the viewer will enjoy a slow, rewarding revelation with extended looking. These are meant to be objects for meditation, as opposed to a "narrative story" which unfolds.

Gee’s Bend quilts, Hubble Telescope images, cave art, sacred sites, nature forms, sacred texts, ancient rituals, jazz music, and poetry: these are some of the starting points for me. Using acrylic paint, modeling paste, charcoal, graphite, colored pencils, and pastels, I build up a stratified surface of intention and fortunate accident. As well, I often sand and scrape away the materials. All of these actions mimic the ageless course of nature, as the things around us are in a constant state of accumulation, and erosion.

Yet, beautiful forms remain in the natural, organic world. I will lay down the paint in pieces, masking off forms, just as a quilter fits together swatches of fabric. I enjoy this piling on of one pure color with another, as it vibrates with visual energy, and may produce a strong emotional response, one beyond the reach of words.

In a pleasing contrast to these heavier, bold forms of color, I draw lyrical shapes of smudged pigment or fine lines. I use templates to trace circles and ovals, enjoying their groupings into organic forms, or their existence as trails of fading line work. Suggesting ongoing iterations and echoes, these geometric forms often act as a sort of armature for the composition of each painting. At other times, the geometric shapes behave as accent forms, referencing the dance of cells, and filigrees of tendrils and branches.

I finish the surface with satiny glazes of oil paint (patinas, veils?) which appear in subtle squares, biomorphic shapes, and other boundaries. This editing device allows me to map the area, referencing aerial views of land boundaries on the large scale, and archeological layering in a more intimate realm. This overall transparency of color allows for a sense of X-ray vision, where the many striations of activity are revealed.

Suggesting faded parchments or fresco walls, this surface speaks of accumulated histories. In the end, the work reveals itself gradually, just as an archaeological site sheds its collective history.

I make a rigorously formal art, but I have faith that this meditative system of replication and mantra-like activity will produce objects of joy, warmth, and plentitude. And rather than explaining away the work, I again have faith that these objects will operate on their own terms, leaving the viewer to enjoy the literal act of seeing."

Q & A

What inspires you, and how do you stay inspired? How has this shaped your artistic philosophy?

It ALL seeps in, but, particularly, the written word is important for my inspiration: poetry, novels, religious history, anthropology, cosmology, biology, and art history are all areas where I may find grist for the mill. A question which is always present for me: how does the world fit together from its many parts, and what drives our need to know and create and seek the spiritual.

What artist(s) has (have) had the biggest influence on your work?

I greatly admire these poets: TS Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Kenneth Rexroth, and Walt Whitman. Eliot’s major work, Four Quartets, has been the main foundation for me for many years, because of his exploration of the spiritual in humankind, from the primitive sense of the Other, on through to highly developed rituals and sacraments. Wallace’s use of colorful language and his supreme imagination have all been intriguing. Rexroth’s concern with integrating many religious belief systems, throughout eras and geographies, has been inspiring. With his exploration of the animal desires in us all, Whitman has always opened my eyes to our place in the natural world.

Brice Marden, James Bishop, Willem deKooning, Paul Klee and Kurt Schwitters are visual artists of great importance for me. I admire Marden for his integrity and purposefulness and ability to evoke deep emotions within a rigorous, minimalist aesthetic. Bishop’s sense of improvisation, and his confident acceptance of the accidental are both powerful strategies I admire. DeKooning’s versatility and sheer energy are almost beyond belief. Plus, his supreme dedication to the craft of painting always amazes. With his ability to create profound visual statements within a small format, Klee demands my continual respect. As well, his highly sophisticated visual language (in the guise of primitive markings) is a wonder. I go to Schwitters for his pursuit of the collage sensibility.

What is your artistic philosophy?

Authentic expression presenting itself as an inevitable presence: that is the artistic goal for me. And a well-crafted surface is mandatory. The painter Robert Ryman states it beautifully: The one quality I look for and I think is in all good painting, is that it has to look as if no struggle was involved. It has to look as if it was the most natural thing – it just happened and you don’t have to think about how it happened. It has to look very easy even though it wasn’t.

What do you need around you when you are working in your studio?

I enjoy an orderly and clean environment. I work to music of all kinds, but lately, jazz, and the more free form expressions of Eric Dolphy, Dave Holland, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, and Charles Mingus, to name a few. Acoustic guitarist Michael Hedges, with his primal groove and unbelievable dynamic range, always inspires. PJ Harvey’s raw emotion and artistry are examples of urgency. I paint by natural light during the day, and never work at night. I enjoy taking walks through our woods and meadow, as this exposes me to textures and lights and natural sounds.