Barry Westcott - People and Places

The solo painting exhibition of Barry Westcott entitled "People and Places" opens at Diachroniki Gallery in Nicosia on Friday 18th of May, 2012 at 19:30.

Barry Westcott is a professional British artist who has been based in Cyprus since 2009.

He has held numerous solo and joint exhibitions throughout the UK including The Bond Street Gallery London alongside artist David Shepard OBE, which have resulted in a number of prizes such as Best Artist in Show and the Rosenstiels Fine Art Award amongst others.

Barry's works have been sold around the world and various pieces feature in the private collections of The Duke of Kent and the late Sir Norman Wisdom OBE.

He has endeavored in his recent work to capture the essence of the old Cyprus, its history, people and culture, so fragile and threatened yet fiercely protecting and preserving traditions and heritage. This has inspired Barry to consider a bygone era and focus on the buildings around the old town of Nicosia now being lost due to development or neglect.

He has been heavily inspired by the light of Cyprus, so intense that the white appears almost a bleached white, shadows are sharper and there are fewer mid-tones. His paintings embody the contradiction of light versus dark, the contrast of sunlight and shadow; it is not always about what it is clearly visible but what lies in the shade that triggers our interest, curiosity and emotions. As in the case of the ancient owner of a small shop, a business which has been in the family for generations, sitting outside his building now crumbling from age and disrepair, the deep shadows inside the shop guarding the treasures held within to be discovered by those who look hard enough.

His work entreats the beholder to dig deeper into the painting, to challenge the shades to discover their inner secrets. The artist believes that in a painting, no matter how long you have been looking at it, you should always find some new and surprising feature. A painting is not just a piece of wall furniture but something you want look at and see, a talking point, a memory or the way it makes you feel.

Having always been a lover of the sea Barry also sources deep inspiration from the Mediterranean, its moody temperament throughout the seasons, the beaches, the clear and astonishing waters presenting a myriad of different colours, the volcanic rocks with their timeless forms sculpted over centuries by nature’s strongest forces, emerging like statues from its crystal depths, enticing him to also express such enigmatic beauty on canvass.

To view more of Barry's work visit his website

Opening Hours
Daily and Weekends: 10:00 - 19:00