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Sam Fox School
b and e

L bARBER

bARBER was named the recipient of the 2020 Island Press Emerging Artist Research Fellowship. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his residency was rescheduled for June 2021.

For his project at Island Press, bARBER created a complex and playful double portrait, b and e. This is a 4 plate collagraph and relief print with a la poupée inking and chine collé on Hannemuhle Copperplate Bright White paper.

About the artist

bARBER is an interdisciplinary artist who uses painting, collage, and performance to articulate various testimonies within and surrounding Black America.

Artist, Barber, mixing different color inks on a glass slab while interns work behind him
Two people, the artist bARBER and the printer Tom Reed, stand next to a glass table in preparation for inking a plate and printing.
One of the collagraph plates for Barber's project made from various collage materials glued to a PVC board.
Tom Reed, master printer, leans over the print that was just pulled off the press while artist, Barber, watches with his hand on his chin.
Artist leaning over and pressing lips onto a plate on the table top.
Five variations of the same image hang on a wall next to each other.

bARBER mixes inks while summer interns Byron Ashley and Emerson Alexander gather materials and assist.

bARBER and Tom get ready to print one of the collagraph plates for the first time.

One of the collagraph plates - you can really see how Barber translates his use of collage in his paintings to the printmaking process. This is the plate that is printed mostly in ultra marine blue.

First proofs!

bARBER makes an impression of his lips.

Experimenting and proofing different colors and orders for the plates.

Red, green, and black image of a pair of lips with stenciled stars to reference a flag.

bARBER, Untitled (Black American Flag Lips), Screenprint, 11 x 15 ½ inches, Edition of 10

HELPER PRINT

Untitled (Black American Flag Lips) is the Helper Print created by bARBER during his residency to give to the assistants and interns that worked on his project. His flag is inspired by David Hammons’ African American Flag (1990) and was made from a direct impression of bARBER’s own lips.

This Helper Print is not available for purchase through Island Press.

Editions from this project

colorful abstract image with basic shapes of circles and rectangles with abstract foliage and a sun-like form in the upper right