From A Safe Distance

"It has been really interesting to see how differently the other artists have interpreted and worked with the same shape. From the feedback given, it appears as though the challenge of using another's design has forced an experiment within their practices and like myself, they have achieved new ways of working that they will continue through their practice." - Raen Barnsley, 2021

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.

Accolades

Education: MA Fine Art, City and Guilds of London Art School, 2019. BA (Hons) Fine Art, Gloucestershire University, 2017.

Solo Exhibition: Ryebank Gallery, Rye, 2021

Recent Exhibitions: Spring has Sprung, Jealous Gallery, 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. LARA Painting Now, Brixton, 2020.. 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, 2016. Resolute, Hardwick Gallery, Cheltenham, 2016.

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.

www.raenbarnsley.com
@raenbarnsley