BIOGRAPHY

Jonathan Barbieri was born in Washington D.C. in1955. He began painting at about the age of five. Though mostly self-taught, he received a good deal of early instruction from his father, Louis. Mr. Barbieri's professional career as a visual artist began in San Francisco, California after attending the San Francisco Art Institute.
Early in the 1980s he arrived in the city of Oaxaca in southern Mexico where he met and married Guadalupe Arredondo. In 1990 he moved his family to the valley of Etla north of the city.
Those years spent in the campo had a profound influence on Barbieri's artwork, not only in terms of technique and thematic content, but also with regard to his attitude toward making art.
Jonathan Barbieri's artwork is in the permanent collections of a number of public institutions, including The Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts in the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, California, The diRosa Preserve in Napa, California, The Bank of America Security Pacific Corporate Art Collection, Smith Anderson Fine Arts Press, Palo Alto, California and El Instituto Estatal de Cultura in Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico. His work is also in private collections in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Austria, Germany, Spain and the Canary Islands. Barbieri continues to live and work in Oaxaca. Recent Exhibitions Include: Decade – Drawings and Paintings 1994 – 2004 at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, 2004 Sonoma, California; Revisit the Mirror – Self-portraits through Time, 2004 at the Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, California; La Pierde Almas, historia de una cantina, 2001-2002 at Manuel García Arte Contemporaneo, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico; Propios y Extraños, 2001 at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico. Mr. Barbieri was recently granted a fellowship at the Djerassi Artists in Residence Program in Woodside California.

Photo: Russel Ellison, San Francisco, Oaxaca

CURATORS COMMENTS

Richard Reisman - former Chief Curator, diRosa Preserve
"My opinion of Jonathan Barbieri’s work could not possibly be higher. He is a masterful painter and his imagery imparts richly nuanced and intelligent mythic narratives. His painting is informed by a lively, acute intelligence and a world view that is wide and deep. He is amazingly literate, extremely articulate and can verbally elaborate on his craft in a highly illuminating way. His painting has always been juicy and provocative with an original and signature palette. His craft continues to improve in complexity".



Robert Flynn Johnson – Curator in Charge, The Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, Palace of the Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; San Francisco, Ca.
"Jonathan Barbieri is an artist who uses his head but paints with his heart.
This in an age when so much art is taken up with fads and so many artists
rely on "concepts", abandoning any sense of skill at drawing or thoughtful
use of composition or color. In contrast, Barbieri has both a very
contemporary artistic sensibility while also using skilled traditional
methods of painting and draftsmanship.
He is the real thing - an artist of passionate convictions whose subject
matter asks as many questions as it answers, which is the mark of compelling
art".

Lia Transue, Executive Director, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
"The first thing that came to mind when I saw Jonathan's work was that this is a painter who loves to paint and cares deeply about the world around him, an artists’ artist who challenges preconceptions with his own personal language. A master of his medium, his canvases are alive with honest and compelling soulful images that capture and blend both our world and his. An artist as articulate with language as he is with paint, Jonathan places the viewer as spectator before Barbieri the author, passionately compelled to tell the viewer his story."

RECENT LECTURES

November 21st, 2004: The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, California – in conjunction with the exhibition, Decade – Paintings and Drawings 1994-2004. Museum Director, Lia Transue comments.

November 4th, 2004: Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, California – on the existential imperative of the self portrait. Museum Director, Linda Craighead comments. Chief Curator, Signe Mayfield comments.

June, 2002: diRosa Preserve, Napa, California. Curator, Richard Reisman, comments.

December 21st, 2001: Manuel García Contemporary Art Gallery – Book Presentation, La Pierde Almas. Manuel García comments.

click here to book the artist for a speaking engagement

PRESS

Guillermo Fadanelli: Hell is other people, Crónica Dominical, 2002, Mexico City

Santiago Espinosa de los Monteros: The Recovered Soul, Amigos de Bellas Artes, Mexico City

CURRICULUM VITAE

Solo Exhibitions

2004 DECADE: 1994 – 2004 Jonathan Barbieri Paintings and Drawings; Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma Ca.
2002 United Nations World Headquarters, New York, N.Y. On May 7th exhibited the painting, “Landscape with Land Mine”, oil on canvas, 2002, commissioned by members of Mines to Vines under the auspices of the Roots for Peace luncheon sponsored by the State Department of the United States.
2002 Manuel García Contemporary Art Gallery, Oaxaca, Oax. “La Pierde Almas / The Loser of Souls”
1997 Galería Estela Shapiro, México D.F., México, “Estados Del Alma / States of the Soul”
1997 Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
1997 Plaza Gallery, Bank of America – Security Pacific, World Headquarters, San Francisco, CA. “A Survey of Early Work”
1994 Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA. “New Paintings”
1994 Casa de Cultura del Estado de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Oax., México; “Obra Nueva”
1993 Fundación Cultural Bustamante–Vasconcelos, Oaxaca, Oax., México
1992 California State University, San Jose, CA
1991 Kay Kimpton Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1988 Miller/Brown Gallery, San Francisco, CA. “New Work from Oaxaca”
1988 Museo de la Ciudad de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Oax., México, “Made in Oaxaca”
1987 Miller/Brown Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1987 Museo de la Ciudad de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Oax., México
1986 De Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA.
1983 Plaza Gallery, Bank of America – Security Pacific, World Headquarters, San Francisco, CA.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2004 Contemporary Art Museum, Guadalajara. “Los Siete Pecados Capitales” / “The Seven Deadly Sins”.
2003 Galería Quetzalli, Oaxaca, Oax. México. “Los Siete Pecados Capitales” / “The Seven Deadly Sins”. Catalog essay, Fernando Galvez de Aguinaga.
2001 Contemporary Art Museum, Oaxaca, Oax., “Propios y Extraños
2001 Centro Cultural Santo Domingo, Oaxaca, Oax; “Self Portraits by Mexican Painters”
2000 San Agustin 2000, San Agustin, Vista Hermosa, Oaxaca, México; Inauguration - State Archives
1999 K. Kimpton Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA. “The Millennium”
1999 Finnish Paperart Center, Porvo, Finland; Art From Oaxaca
1999-98 Galería Estela Shapiro, Mexico City, Mexico, “Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition”.

Itinerary:
• Museo Francisco Goitia, Zacatecas, Zacatecas
• Galería del Estado de Veracruz, Jalapa, Veracruz
• Contemporary Art Museum “Alfredo Zalce”, Morelia, Michoacán
• Centro Cultural Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California Norte
• Instituto Potosino de Bellas Artes, San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
• Pinacoteca de Nuevo León, Monterrey, Nuevo León
• Centro Cultural “El Nigromante”, San Miguel Allende, Guanajuato
• Museo de Arte de Sinaloa, Culiacán, Sinaloa
• Galería Estela Shapiro, México, D.F.
• Museo de Arte de Querétaro, Querétaro
• Contemporary Art Museum, Oaxaca, Oaxaca

1997 Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA. “The Mythic Narrative”
1994 Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA. “The Responsive Witness”
1992 “Art and the Law”, 17th Annual Exhibition.

Itinerary:
• Bank of America Security Pacific Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
• Artspace Inc., Raleigh, NC;
• University of Puget Sound School of Law, Tacoma, WA.

1992 California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA.
1991 Palace of the Legion of Honor, Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, San Francisco, CA. “New Acquisitions”
1991 Kay Kimpton Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
1990 Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA. Juried Competition
1990 Syntex Corporation Art Gallery, Palo Alto, CA. “Self Portraits”
1989 Laguna Gloria Museum of Art, Austin, TX. Juried Competition
1989 San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA. Juried Competition
1989 Butterfield and Butterfield, San Francisco, CA. “Art Against AIDS Exhibition”; Benefit for the American Foundation for AIDS Research; Elizabeth Taylor, National Chairman
1987 Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, OR. “Shared Visions – 6 German and 6 American Painters”
1987 Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA.
1986 Miller/Brown Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
1985 Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA.
1983 John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

Selected Collections

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco – Achenbach Foundation, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA.
Smith Anderson Fine Arts Press, Palo Alto, CA.
diRosa Preserve Museum, Napa, CA. ()
Bank of America – Security Pacific Corporate Art Collection, San Francisco, Ca.
Instituto Estatal de las Culturas, Oaxaca, Oax., Mexico

Private Collections

USA, Canada, Great Britain, Spain, Austria, Germany, Mexico.

Television Interviews

Sept. 2002 channel 22, México City; Noticiario
May 1998 channel 11, Hoy en la Cultura, México, D.F., con Laura Barrera
June 1998 channel 9, La Barra Cultural, Oaxaca, Oax., México
Oct 1998 channel 11, Hoy en la Cultura, México, D.F., “La Pintura en Oaxaca”, con Laura Barrera
Nov 1997 channel 11, Hoy en la Cultura, México, D.F., con Laura Barrera
Nov 1997 channel 22, México, D.F.

Press and Publications

La Tempestad Revista de Imágenes e Ideas / Magazine of Images and Ideas (Monterrey, Nuevo León / México City, Mexico); May / June 2002; Brevario / Briefing: “La Pierde Almas”

Amigos de Bellas Artes bimonthly publication of the Consejo Nacional de Cultura / Instituto de Bellas Artes, México City, México; January / February 2002; “El alma recuperada: sobre la obra de Jonathan Barbieri”, by Santiago Espinosa de los Monteros

Generación Magazine (México City, Mexico.) año / year XIV, numero /number 43; De La Pierde Almas: “Cierren a las dos de la mañana”, by Guillermo Fadanelli

Crónica Dominical (México City, Mexico.) 10 February 2002; “El infierno son los otros: sobre las escenas del pintor norteamericano, Jonathan Barbieri...” by Guillermo Fadanelli

Milenio Diario (México D.F.) 8 January 2002; “Barbieri, ruptura regionalista”, by Enrique Franco

Noticias (Oaxaca, Oax.) 25 December 2001; Cultura – front page, “De la Cantina La Pierde Almas”, by Ulises Torrentera

Noticias (Oaxaca, Oax.) 25 December 2001; Cultura – front page, “Una reunión de soledades para celebrar a la muerte: entrevista con Guillermo Fadanelli”, by Sandra Ortiz Brena

“La Pierde Almas, Historia de una Cantina” (Book, published by Punto y Cometa, 2001); Paintings by Jonathan Barbieri with introduction by Santiago Espinosa de los Monteros and texts by Ulises Torrentera and Guillermo Fadanelli

“Color, Imagen y Pensamiento”, XX Aniversary Exhibition Catalog for Galería Estela Shapiro, México D.F., 2001

“Propios y Extraños”, Exhibition Catalog, Contemporary Art Museum, Oaxaca, Oax. with essays by Jorge Pech Casanova, Germaine Gómez Haro and Victor García; June de 2000

“Local Color, The diRosa Collection of Contemporary California Art” (Book, published by Chronicle Books, 1999)

Exhibition Catalog, “The Mythic Narrative” Palo Alto Art Center, October 1997

El Financiero (México City, Mexico.) November 1997; Cultural Section – front page, by Oscar Enrique Ornelas

New American Painters, The Open Studio Press, New York, December 1997