2021 EXPOSED ARTIST DIRECTORY
Javier Barrios
2021, Color pencil on Japanese paper, 17 x 20.5 in
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The work of Javier Barrios at first appears seemingly decorative; flowers, landscapes, and beehives are made in intricate detail. But beyond the surface, they carry social and political undertones in their fictitious narratives. Just Expectations is from a series of drawings inspired from his research in the Fakahatchee Strand in a quest to find the rare ghost orchid. Reading like a storyboard, the image depicts the elusive flowers dancing around a fire.
Javier Barrios was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1989 and is based in Mexico City. He has exhibited at Proyectos LA, Páramo Gallery, Guadalajara, and Museo de Arte de Zapopan (MAZ), Guadalajara. He participated in the SOMA program, Mexico City in 2016 and has had residencies at Casa Wabi, Oaxaca, and International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York in 2018. His work has been published in Artsy, Artforum, Terremoto, and Campo de relámpagos, amongst others. Barrios is the founder of an editorial project entitled “Ediciones Barrio Boy’z” with which he publishes his own work and collaborations with additional authors. He is also the co-founder of the artista run space Interior 2.1 in Guadalajara.