Joe Barnes

Originally inspired to paint by living in Paris in the 50's, Barnes won quick recognition for his talent, winning the Emily Lowe Foundation award during his first year of painting. In that same year, he was offered representation at the Gordon Gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York, and was even given a Tribeca studio by his gallerist. By the early 80's, he was exhibiting extensively in Germany, as well as in other European countries and the United States.  From the very beginning, Barnes produced monochrome paintings, feeling that abstraction was best suited for evoking the sense of mystery he wished to communicate. From the late 70's through the early 90's, his paintings were entirely white. His motivation for making white paintings had to do with the purity of white, the concept that "less is more," and "the challenge to push the painting as much as possible." In the early 90's he began making drawings, using pastel colors. His current work, acrylic on panel, features colors that are at once soft and intense.  Current works are relatively small, ranging from 10"x8" to 24"x22". The choice of format is another variation on the "less is more" theme. Attention is drawn to a compact but extremely lively rectangle of color, in much the same way that a lens focuses diffuse light into a concentrated beam. As one viewer remarked about the Napthol Red painting in an exhibition, "it's the biggest small painting I've ever seen." Barnes succeeds in his intention to produce work that reflects "the element of silent, serene quietude." At the same time, his paintings speak clearly and insistently, bidding the viewer to step up and experience their vibrant colors.
Joe Barnes has in many ways led a charmed life. After graduating from college as an English major, he left for Paris, intending to write a novel. Most of the people he knew there were artists, and the art world of Paris in the 50's was an exciting place to be. By the time he returned to New York, he had decided that he too wanted to be a painter. He didn't even know how to stretch a canvas, but he was not one to let such details stand in his way. For most people making such a decision, the expectation is for a long period of learning, followed by another long period of building a reputation. For Joe Barnes, it simply meant asking a painter friend to show him how to make canvases, and then plunging in. Within the first year, he had won the Emily Lowe Foundation award, and had acquired representation at the Gordon Gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York. His gallerist gave him a studio in what is now the Tribeca area. Such immediate and significant recognition of the quality of his paintings served as a confirmation that this was to be his life work.

Born 1925 in Detroit, Michigan, died 2025 in New York.

Education 

Wayne University B.A.
Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO
Taylor Museum, Colorado Springs, CO
Sorbonne, Paris

Awards and Grants

Public Collections

Werner H. Kramarsky, New York
Weatherspoon Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, New York (Natalie and Irving Forman Collection)
Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum, Hagen
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Museum Katharinenhof, Kranenburg

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions