Alvaro Barrington (b. 1983, Caracas) was born to Grenadian and Haitian parents and raised between the Caribbean and New York; and since graduating has spent time living between New York and London. Informed by his personal experience, Barrington’s practice explores interconnected histories of cultural production.

Considering himself primarily a painter, Barrington’s multimedia approach to image-making employs burlap, textiles, postcards and clothing, exploring how materials themselves can function as visual tools while referencing their personal, political and commercial histories. 

Alvaro Barrington’s work is held in a number of significant public and institutional collections internationally, reflecting his growing standing in contemporary art. In the UK, his work is in the collections of Tate Britain, The Hepworth Wakefield and Towner Eastbourne, underscoring strong institutional support for his practice. Internationally, his work is held by the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, as well as major foundations and museums including the K11 Art Foundation (Hong Kong), the Loewe Foundation (Madrid), the Vanhaerents Art Collection (Brussels) and the X Museum (Beijing). Together, these collections highlight Barrington’s global reach and his importance within current dialogues around painting, materiality and cultural narrative.

Alvaro Barrington’s sunset series is rooted in memory, rhythm and return. The works draw inspiration from the artist’s childhood in the Caribbean and the daily ritual of watching the sun set over the sea—a moment both ordinary and profound, repeated endlessly yet never the same. For Barrington, the sunset becomes a site of reflection, holding together personal history, displacement and belonging. Painted after his return to Grenada for the first time in many years, the series channels the emotional resonance of that homecoming, while also engaging with a lineage of modernist painting, from Turner and Monet to Rothko and Etel Adnan. The repetition of the motif echoes the cadence of everyday life and the passage of time, encouraging slow looking and contemplation. Rather than depicting a specific place, the paintings evoke sensation and atmosphere, using colour and light to register memory, mood and the quiet beauty of lived experience.