The exhibition culminates in a chapter Barrington entitles THE GARDEN: a play on words that brings together the excesses of the streets surrounding Madison Square Garden and Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490–1510). Dedicated to Barrington’s celebrated Basketball Paintings, this final space taps into the social significance of the sport, both to the artist during his own Brooklyn upbringing, and more widely across marginalised communities. Reflecting the memories and influences that come together in the exhibition, Barrington’s most recent works introduce new media to his established material language, bringing together elements that evoke luxury, like intricately carved wood, patterned leather given to him by the acclaimed luxury brand Alaïa and Tiffany-inspired stained glass lights, with laundry bags, milk bottles, concrete, cardboard and yarn: non-traditional objects and materials that reference his personal and cultural history.

Aspiration and possibility, especially among Black and marginalised communities, has always been at the heart of Barrington’s practice. Through recreating his own experiences of gazing into shop windows in New York City before school, the artist encourages visitors to the exhibition to look at his works with the same sense of longing and wonder he once felt. In doing so, the artist relays a narrative about not having and wanting, but also about the power of the objects we desire and consume to give us a sense of security, hope, or, as Barrington says, ‘participation’. ​​

Special thanks to Alaïa for providing the leather used in selected works.

About the artist
Alvaro Barrington studied at Hunter College in New York and the Slade School of Fine Art in London, later teaching at both of his alma maters, as well as at the Cooper Union in New York. The idea of the total installation has always been central to Barrington’s practice. His first solo museum exhibition, which opened the same year he graduated, was curated by Klaus Biesenbach at MoMA PS1, Queens, in 2017, and for it, he memorably recreated his own studio within the museum’s walls. His work has since been shown in numerous solo and group shows, including Alvaro Barrington: SPIDER THE PIG, PIG THE SPIDER, South London Gallery, London (2021); Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London (2021); A Taste of Chocolate, Thaddaeus Ropac, London (2018), and through his ongoing Tt x AB collaboration with the painter Teresa Farrell. Barrington co-curated the exhibition Artists I Steal From with Julia Peyton-Jones at Thaddaeus Ropac, London in 2019, followed by his solo gallery exhibitions in Paris Marais (2021) and Salzburg (2022). In spring 2024, Alvaro Barrington will create a new installation for the Tate Britain Commission.