Taga Barrio (Larra Juab), Untitled (from an On-going series called Babae “Woman”), 2022. Acrylic and oil painting, 70 x 50cm. $900. Courtesy: the artist
Amber Creswell Bell
Program Director Emerging Art, Michael Reid Galleries
Here, Taga Barrio (Larra Juab) is sharing an intensely personal moment in their own personal history. Whilst sharing, they are also keeping the audience at a distance by leaving the faces featureless and somewhat abstracted, and the drawing in outline form, without the completion of detail. The decision to use a black background is an interesting one, anchoring the scene in a way that feels both momentous and couched in the internal.
Dylan Foley
Gallery Manager and Co-curator, Boom Gallery, Melbourne
Untitled by Barrio is both provocative and confronting, not because of the queer relationship presented in this painting, but the fact that the viewer becomes a voyeur; observing a typically private and personal moment. I imagine that making art is cathartic for Barrio, a chance to process and unpack significant experiences and explore their identity.