Clare Arts Office will host ‘Marked: Bodies, Barcodes and Binding’ an art exhibition by Barry Wrafter, at the Clare Museum, Ennis, from 17 August to 12 September, inclusive.
Barry Wrafter is an Ennis, County Clare-based artist and public sculptor with over 25 years of experience in public sculpture and most recently kinetic sculpture. He holds a master’s in Fine Art. His public commissions include works for Kilkenny, Limerick, Clare and Monaghan County Councils.
In this exhibition, Wrafter turns his precision at sculpting toward the painted surface, rendering hyper-real, faceless figures, bulbous-headed and stripped of individuality, as if poured from the same anonymous mould.
Across each canvas he traces the blueprints of an industry built on sentient commodification; the work reclaims the technical drawing of industry, the engineers of mechanised carnage and resigns their purpose to expose the hidden machinery of consumption.
The work displays bodies numbered, restrained, and processed with the same cool efficiency applied as industrial inventory. A figure stands bound and muzzled in worn straps; gloved hands hover with syringes over a soft, trusting form that cannot resist; overhead, a conveyor drags raw and sanguine forms through smoke and firelight toward a many-armed merry go round that never stops turning. What emerges is less a series of images than a ledger, a quiet, methodical account of what we manufacture when we decide a body is only ever material.
Ennis based artist Barry Wrafter has been honing his skills a sculptor for many successful years from his studio in Clare. His chosen materials to work with are stone, ( handmade headstones and stone sculpture) ceramics, painting and mixed media. Prior to graduating with a Ceramic’s Degree from LSAD, Barry qualified as a Stone Sculptor.
Through his practice, Barry was awarded numerous public art commissions included the statue to honour the Kilkenny County Hurlers. In an ongoing evolutionary process Barry decided to explore different media to work in. He chose ceramics as one path on his artistic journey. This mix of studying both hard and soft materials frees the mind to new ideas and opportunities to make new art forms.
Through his practical skills as a tradesman in stone, to his curative skills Barry has a unique take on art made through many media’s. His works of art are meticulously crafted to Gallery standards. He gets his creativity from both Graphic Art and Contemporary Craft.