RAEN BARNSLEY
Raen Barnsley lives and works across London and Warwickshire.
2019 - MA in Fine Art at City and Guilds London School of Art
2017 - First in BA (Hons) Fine Art at The University of Gloucestershire
Barnsley constructs lively and chaotic sculptures that act as physical manifestations of her experiences with dyslexia. Utilising an alphabet of shapes and motifs that float and fluctuate outside of a structure’s grasp, the resulting compositions hint at a muddled and hectic mind frame. Barnsley also uses a highly saturated colour palette and a wide range of textures, each of which she uses as a different stream of information, aiming for them to bounce off each other and contrast with their surrounding elements as much as possible. An emphasis on experimentation with materials runs heavily through her practice, giving her the ability to use many different mediums in one sculpture alone and create outside of the limitations of one, sole discipline.
As well as finding inspiration from her dyslexic tendencies, Barnsley is also influenced by the possibilities within contemporary imaging software and its ability to depict dyslexic behaviours. Spanning print, painting, collage, and sculpture, her works are often designed in a similar method to the production of digital images; using multiple layers, areas of indicated transparency, and highly saturated, screen-type colours. Concerned with how technological advances in software will continue to change the aesthetic of her work, she is interested in what it means to bring the virtual into the non-virtual, with hand-produced work made with traditional techniques.
Exhibitions
Honey from the Comb is Sweet on the Tongue, Solo Exhibition, Barnsley Civic Centre, 2022
Rare Candy, Soft Times Gallery, San Francisco, 2022
The Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London, 2021
Resonant Strangeness, Marram Arts, London, 2021
From a Safe Distance, London, 2021
The First Time is the Best, Konsum163 - modern art gallery, Germany, 2021
Spring has Sprung, Jealous Gallery, London, 2021
Solo Exhibition, Ryebank Gallery, Rye, 2021
The Human, The Tub Gallery, London, 2021
50 x £50, Auction Collective, London, 2020
Life of Venus, The Tub Gallery, London, 2020
36th Open Annual Exhibition, Lake Gallery, London, 2020
To My Twenties, Auction Collective, Koppel Project, London, 2020
Painting Now, LARA, London, 2019
MA Degree Show, City and Guilds School of Art, London, 2019
Open Exhibition, Ovalo Gallery, Mexico City, 2019
Red Herring, The Island, Bristol, 2018
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Block 336, London, 2018
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Baltic Mill & Baltic 39, Newcastle, 2017
Now Us, R. K. Burt Gallery, London, 2017
UOG 2017, Hardwick Gallery, Cheltenham, 2017
Sind wir der zeitgeist, Hardwick Gallery, Cheltenham, 2017
Arts Festival 2016, All Saints Church, Cheltenham, 2016
Resolute, Hardwick Gallery, Cheltenham, 2016
Curated Projects
From a Safe Distance, with The Auction Collective, London, 2021
Collections
Konsum163 - modern art gallery, Germany
Artpic, Germany
Ryebank Gallery, Rye, England
Awards
The Jealous Prize, Jealous Gallery, 2020
Shortlisted for The Signature Art Prize in Sculpture, 2019
Shortlisted for The Directors Prize, Artellite, 2019
Leverhulme Scholarship, 2018
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, 2017
Travel Award - Research in Switzerland, 2015
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