ARTIST STATEMENT
challenging us to see things differently, bari’s vivid intense statement pieces are evocative, reflective, and fearless.
pushing boundaries with color, contrast, and texture is a common thread across bari’s work; she is consumed by the sensory and psychological intensity itself and the demands it places on both creator and observer. immersive journeys that delve deeply into the interplay between the mental and the physical, bari’s modern abstract paintings, living canvas art objects, and photography provoke exploration of the fluid relationship between what we see and feel and our evolving experience and sense of self.
bari’s process is deeply intuitive, her works characterized by a visual and tactile intensity that sparks an exquisite tension. the desire to touch the colors, layers, and forms is almost irresistible, with the result that the observer is as immersed in their experience of the pieces as she is in the process of creating them.
drawing from the artist’s background in psycholinguistics, design, and writing, her pieces urge the viewer to unreservedly dive into this rich sensory and intellectual narrative and transform from curious observer into dialogic participant, with color as the lingua franca.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
bari has always been thinking and doing differently — it’s in her DNA. a self-described creative + analytical mashup, bari is an artist + writer (+ lapsed behavioral scientist) obsessed with color and fascinated by self-expression through style and space. chicago-born and rooted in madrid, bari and her husband, james, founded their mixed-media studio, rethinkreframe, to explore the intersections of art, style, and ideas and connect discerning art lovers with bari’s bold distinctive work.
exhibitions and events include: laughlin gallery, highland park; it’s the little things show, december 1, 2022-january 13, 2023, girls who paint gallery, kensington; small works show, november 26-december 17, 2022, woman made gallery, chicago; winter expo, november 18-december 20, 2022, evanston art center; BIG little art show, november 4, 2022-january 28, 2023, peninsula school of art; colorful language, august-december, 2022, bridgewater lofts, minneapolis; drawing in all mediums, july 27-august 26, 2022, site:brooklyn; the other art fair, april 21-24, 2022, chicago; new artist exhibition, february 4-10, 2022, boomer gallery, london; in view 2022, january 7-29, 2022, the art center highland park; and gallery popup, summer 2021, 2022, rethinkreframe mixed-media studio.
bari holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and spanish from the university of rochester and a phd in psychology from the university of chicago. her background in the fields of language and human behavior provides a unique window into the relationships between people, objects, and spaces, and is a critical frame of reference for her work.
the artist and her family are currently thinking and doing differently in chicago (mostly). in their high-intensity house there’s always music playing, non-stop activity in the kitchen, deep discussions about books and language, and at least three people talking at once. and that’s the way they like it.
© bari wieselman schulman