When first admiring Joseph Barbieri's new exhibit, titled "New Ducks and Scenic Scenes," at the Gallery NAGA in Boston, one cannot help but wonder if the works are by the same artist. The left half of the room leaves the viewer longing to travel through a charming Italian countryside and rest peacefully under a cypress tree, while the right half features colorful ducks dressed in ball gowns and flying antique planes.
These two incredibly contrasting lines of work do not, however, leave room to question the skill and talent of this artist. Whether it is with his scenic images or his work with personified waterfowl, Barbieri brings an unpretentious eye to everything he paints. His subjects manifest themselves differently on canvas, but a feeling of honest effort and simplicity permeate them all equally.
An older man with kind eyes, Barbieri handles his art in two very different ways. The scenes of the Mediterranean countryside come from his travels through the area with his wife while vacationing. There is a soft, calm feel to each of the pieces. He does not focus on exact details, but rather blurs the trees and bushes to give the image an almost sleepy quality.
While Barbieri is by no means an impressionist painter, his vision feels as if it was taken from a dream; the lines are discernable, but the image as a whole is slightly unclear. This is exactly why these works come off as unpretentious. It is as though the artist approached them as a feeling, a sensation, rather than a precise image to be studied and copied.
It is also important to note that Barbieri's inclusion of architecture in some of his paintings creates a beautiful contrast to the dream-like landscapes. These sections of the canvas offer the viewer a solid structure with lines and proportions through which he or she can feel more grounded. The bushes and shrubs seem almost untouchable; the houses bring a sort of solidity to the paintings. And, because the artist shies away from widespread use of architecture claiming it scares him, his minimal employment of it makes those particular paintings in which it is featured all the more striking.
Barbieri's duck paintings have a completely different feel to them. While the landscapes have a general tone of soft beauty, these duck works are quite bright, almost overly so, and they are anything but serenely beautiful. They depict human bodies performing mundane human tasks, but the heads on top of these bodies are those of ducks. And these aren't just any old ducks. Some have orange hair and a striped teal bill, others yellow and forest green. The images look flat, almost two-dimensional, and reminiscent of cartoons.
Gallery Director Arthur Dion perfectly described the mood of these pieces, stating, "This half of the room would rather die than be overly serious." And when introduced to the artist, one can see that the playfulness evident in his work is reflected in the way he addresses his art. His goal is to play around; why else would he paint ducks?
With this exhibition, it's easy to fall in love with Barbieri's artwork. Whether it is his ethereal landscapes or colorful waterfowl, the exhibit helps viewers understand that his painting plays to the senses. It is more about emotion than technicalities. Both beauty and humor strike the viewer, and there is an invigorating sensation that this art does not take itself too seriously. It's impossible not to feel refreshed after leaving the gallery.
