ESPECTORADOLimited edition print Paper Print 
by Frank Barnes

“Espectadora” is an acrylic and encaustic painting on canvas 100H x 100W x 3D cms.
The painting is part of a series of works based on ‘walls’. The image is initially generated by some photographs I took in the beautiful ancient city of Jerez in Andalucia . My interest was in the surfaces that had become distressed as part of a process of deterioration over time. The passing of time and how we understand history has a great importance to me. Please see the photographs. The name of the painting is ‘Espectatdora – Nada Es Real’ which translates into The Spectator, where sometimes nothing is real. In our contemporary world much of what we see and what we are affected by is driven by AI technologies. I fully support such technology as a creative tool and understand how such technology can be used to develop methods of instrumental intervention to treat human conditions. My concern is with how AI can be manipulated to alter what we know as ‘truths’. Imagery that is unreliable that is manufactured to affect how we perceive the world we live in.
The work is also inspired by reference to abstract expressionists John Hoyland, Barnett Newman, Gillian Ayres , Barbara Rae, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothko.
I work over the primed canvas using brushes, knives, cloths and squeegees to manage impasto and diluted layers of acrylic paint and cold wax. It is a continuous process of ‘correction’. At different stages I add sand, crackle paste, plaster and various other collage materials underneath and mixed into the paint to create heavier textured surfaces. It is through a process of layering, sanding and scratching into the surface, cancellation and improvisation that the image resolves itself. The painting is purposefully equivocal. It is intentionally ambiguous.
The painting is shipped in a robust custom-made cardboard crate (same as those used to transport large screens). The painting is bubble wrapped to protect the canvas. Further wrapping is made with corrugated card. A wooden frame is placed inside the cardboard crate to preserve the structural strength of the packaging. Each painting is insured to its sale value. Shipping costs within the U.K. take into consideration weight and insurance. U.K. shipping costs for this artwork are estimated at £70.

Materials used:

Acrylic and encaustic on canvas

Details:

• Acrylic painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 100 x 100 x 3cm (unframed) / 100 x 100cm (actual image size)
• Ready to hang
• Signed on the front
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: Abstract and non-figurative

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