Barry Tate

Fox Galleries is proud to present Riches by Barry Tate.

Multi-disciplinary artist Barry Tate is a Warrnambool, Victoria based artist, master ceramicist and arts educator whose practice spans over three decades of prolific production. Trained in and employing Japanese ceramic practices in his processes, he infuses Shinto philosophy into his sculpture and lightbox artworks.

His work contemplates systems of belief, the propaganda art of the church, tragedy and the apocalypse. Ranging from clay, glitter, gold, fibre optics, spray paint, lights and electric motors, no material is out of bounds in Tate’s playful investigation of fear and faith.

He vacillates comfortably between cultures. Tate makes use of the most appropriate material to give expression to his ideas and ideals. The broad arena of world events as a background for decidedly personal issues provides this artist with stimulus for art works. His artworks are truly contemporary in the subjects they address and the distinctive materials are incorporated in the fashioning of the objects that give form to concept.

Barry states:

I’d much rather make a work that is on the surface and beautiful with a deep dark message than try to explain it in words.

But here’s some words anyway: beauty, darkness, growth, sustain, rich, poor, want, need, justice, injustice, darkness, light, right wing, left wing, greed, giving, war, peace, conform, revolt, go back to where you came from, celebrate the beauty of the world, access to information right here right now, don’t watch the news, don’t get involved, look out for yourself, growth is where it’s at, don’t report deaths at sea, don’t vote for social justice, get richer and richer, turn a blind eye, stuff ’em, not my problem, be safe / don’t care, don’t challenge the viewer, be banal, be decorative, celebrate the beauty of the world, gold is good, let there be light, natural selection, let the strong get stronger, bleeding hearts go live in Russia, not my problem, trust symbolic growth, plenty, abundance, shipwrecks, decay in society, wasted effort, pay homage to first inhabitants, add gold/silver/fruit, plenty, overflow, indulgence, overgrowth/neglect, time gets us in the end.