BARRY MASTELLER

PAINTINGS

2016 - Present

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Masteller is clearly a master observer of atmosphere, light and dark, natural form, and their interplay. The results are solemnly harmonious pictures. No apologies for haunting beauty; it remains credible, despite the attacks on it by different modernists, among them Duchamp and Newman. Beauty conveys the esthetic conviction that is the core of art at its most intimate.

Donald Kuspit.

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While distinctly contemporary, Masteller's canvases betray the influence of those early pioneers who recognized California's singular fusion of land and light as fruitful ground for a more meditative approach.

For Barry Masteller as well as for his historical predecessors, the landscape serves as a conduit to unknown worlds and hidden dimensions.

Masteller's works remind that paintings not only represent but also exist as physical landscapes. They reflect a keen understanding of paintings as three-dimensional terrains, formed by sedimented layers of pigment, binder and varnish, and built up, like geological formations, over the course of time.

Marcelle Polednik. Director / Curator Milwaukee Museum of Art.

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Masteller is a conceptual painter: he unites fragments of the urban environment--carefully chosen from a repertoire of photographs--to create a kind of picture puzzle, that is, a representation that conveys the unreal look of every convincing representation even as it precisely realizes reality. The empirical is subsumed in the enigmatic, making for a sense of uncanny truthfulness, however factually bizarre the picture finally seems.

Donald Kuspit. American Art Critic and Poet.

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Riparian. 54 x 48 in. mixed media and acrylic on canvas 2026.

Riparian 2. 54 x 48 in. mixed media and acrylic on canvas 2026.

Junction Creek 1. 24 x 24 in. mixed media on panel 2016.

Junction Creek 2. 24 x 24 in. mixed media on panel 2016.

Junction Creek 3. 24 x 24 in. mixed media on panel 2016.

Junction Creek 4. 24 x 24 in. mixed media on panel 2016.

Junction Creek 5. 24 x 24 in. mixed media on panel 2016.

Junction Creek 6. 24 x 24 in. mixed media on panel 2016.

Junction Creek 7. 24 x 24 in. mixed media on panel 2016.

Junction Creek 8. 24 x 24 in. mixed media on panel 2016.

Red Line. 54 x 48 in. acrylic on canvas. 2018 / 2021

Between a Mesa and a Sand Dune. 66 x 66 in. acrylic on canvas 2018

Alluvium. 66 x 54 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

Together. 66 x 54 in. acrylic on canvas. 2021

Journey Home. 66 x 54 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

Lavender. 54 x 48 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

More Than Whats Left. 66 x 54 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

Convergence. 54 x 48 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

On a Clear Day. 48 x 48 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

Night Shift. 66 x 54 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

Story Board. 50 x 40 in. acrylic on canvas. 2021

Tucked Away. 50 x 40 in. acrylic on canvas. 2021

What is Left is What Remains. 30 x 26.5 in. oil and acrylic on birch panel. 2019

Requiem. 54 x 48 in. acrylic on canvas 2018

Green Line. 66 x 54 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

Close To Home. 30 x 26.5 in. oil and acrylic on birch panel. 2019

Stone Water Air. 30 x 26.5 in. oil and acrylic on birch panel. 2019

Arroyo. 60 x 54" mixed media and acrylic on canvas. 2021

Pleiades. 48 x 48 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

Chance and Circumstance. 66 x 66 in. acrylic on canvas 2018

Time Lines. 48 x 48 in. acrylic on canvas. 2019

Reflections. 54 x 48 in. acrylic on canvas. 2021

Humming Bird. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Fog Memory. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Imaginary Day. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Syncopation. 24 x 22 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Landscape With Quinary. 24 x 22 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Sweet Spot. 48.5 x 24.5 in. acrylic polymer and graphite on panel. 2019

Countdown. 27 x 19 in. acrylic polymer and graphite on paper. 2019

Passion Play. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Beyond a Shadow. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Southern Light. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Present of the Past. 48.5 x 24.5 in. acrylic polymer and graphite on panel. 2019

Resonance. 38 x 24 in. mixed media on panel. 2019

The Otherside Of Night. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

From Time to Time. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Synergy. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Flying. 27 x 19 in. acrylic polymer and graphite on paper on. 2019

Glimmer. 48.5 x 24.5 in. acrylic polymer and graphite on panel. 2019

Borderlands. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Not By A Thread. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Playground. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Foundation. 26 x 24 x 2 in. acrylic on panel. 2019

Poem Collection/Small Works 2020

A selection of mixed media paintings. 2020

8.5 x 11 in. 40 page perfect bound catalog with 35 color images and text.

NEW MEXICO COLLAGE PAINTINGS

Click on image to enlarge

Rhyme and Reason 1. 24 x 16 in. oil, acrylic, mixed media

and cut 1991 painting collage on panel 1991 / 2022

Rhyme and Reason 2. 24 x 16 in. oil, acrylic, mixed media

and cut 1991 painting collage on panel 1991 / 2022

Rhyme and Reason 3. 24 x 16 in. oil, acrylic, mixed media

and cut 1991 painting collage on panel 1991 / 2022

Okey-Dokey 1. 24 x 16 in. acrylic and mixed media on panel. 2022

Okey-Dokey 2. 24 x 16 in. acrylic and mixed media on panel. 2022

Okey-Dokey 3. 24 x 16 in. acrylic and mixed media on panel. 2022

A selection of current 6 x 6 inch. (15.24 x 15.24 cm) mixed media paintings on canvas.

SMALL MIXED MEDIA PAINTINGS / SMALL COLLAGE PAINTINGS

Juniper. 30 x 30 in. acrylic and mixed media on canvas. 2022

Translation 12. 6 x 6 in. acrylic and mixed media on canvas. 2022

Translation 50. 6 x 6 in. acrylic and mixed media on canvas. 2022

Translation 53. 6 x 6 in. acrylic and mixed media on canvas. 2022

Translation 54. 6 x 6 in. acrylic and mixed media on canvas. 2022

High Ground Elegies

A compilation of recent paintings by Barry Masteller with accompanying text, biography and 2022 interview.

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