By Isabel M. Castro
Within the pristine walls of The Studio, the main exhibition space in the Sahara West Library is the exhibition Sight / Line by Audrey Barcio, which will continue through Aug. 26.
This 31-piece painting exhibition surveys the recent evolution of Barcio's geometric abstract visual study. Barcio's abstract paintings merge feminist symbology with the esoteric science of sacred geometry. Collectively, this evocative body of work is a contemporary view of the artist’s personal interpretation of linear structures and bold-colored geometric shapes intercepting with personal concepts of contemporary feminist ideas. Her canvases are more than mere arrangements of color and form; they are portals to the depths of human experience.
"I'm interested in having women's structures be seen because historically they have not been seen," Barcio says. "My work is about examining and reimagining the architecture of human culture."
She visually frames her work in small, medium, and large-scale paintings—with linear structures compositions painted in the mediums of acrylic, flashe, (flashe is a pioneering vinyl-based matt paint with intense covering power) and mica (micas are silicate mineral crystals) on finely stitched, stretched canvases. Barcio’s compositions of sacred geometry thus accent and lead the interplay of movement and vision notions of time that visually inform the viewer of the morphology of the work.
Barcio’s principal aim is to inform the viewer about interpretive patterns associated with femininity throughout time. She also focuses on the evolution of abstract symbology, centered on the primordial heritage of abstraction within the feminine present of time. Her work exposes unseen structures, thus challenging people’s perception of what is visible to reveal what is hidden.
"Nothing stands still in life and in art; as we move throughout the day to night, our vision is filled with three-dimensional beauty, digital flatness, and darkness.”
She believes that “our sight follows patterns, and our minds look for possibilities for interpretation. Exploring and expanding our positions, crossing boundaries, and moving throughout space is a purely human experience. We take in what is in front of us, and we move on."
Barcio is an American visual artist known for her paintings and installations. She is a 2019 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant recipient and a 2021 Joan Mitchell Fellowship nominee. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and her Bachelor of Arts in Education from Herron School of Art and Design. She has completed residencies at the Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art, Vermont Studio Center, and Rodgers Foundation. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, New Art Examiner, Occhi Magazine, PATTERN, NUVO, and Las Vegas Weekly. Recent exhibitions include shows at Syracuse University, Tube Factory Artspace, Las Vegas Government Center, Echo Arts Bozeman, and New Harmony Contemporary. Her work is included in the collection of the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and The Rogers Foundation. Barcio splits her time between Chicago and Muncie, Indiana.
Sight / Line will continue its exhibition in The Studio, the main exhibition space in the Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Saraha Ave, through Aug. 26. For more info, visit thelibrarydistrict.org.