Michael Barnes

Michael Barnes describes the figures in his prints as emerging from his meditations on human nature, and from introspection about his own sources of agitation and anxiety. These characters are often perturbing hybrids of human bodies and animals or objects, which he describes as “domesticated beyond recognition and beyond any level of self-identity or function.” They usually appear in deep isolation amid fantastical, vast landscapes, and with occasional nondescript trappings. Though Barnes admits that the scenes are narrative, he eschews the notion that each conveys a single idea, and instead considers each a vehicle for multiple subjects. Recurring themes in his work include alienating anxiety, the impulse for control and possession, and immobility or captivity.