Ana Maria Barbos

Lives and works in Ploiești, Romania

Artist statement

My practice explores air as both presence and absence, and the way a form can appear, dissolve, and remain only as a trace. Memory of Air, the project I am currently developing, grew out of years spent observing and photographing birds near the forest where I live. Most often, I heard them before I could see them. Gradually, my attention shifted from the birds themselves toward the invisible space that surrounds them and supports their flight. In my paintings, I try to make this space perceptible. I work through layering, erasure, stains, traces, and transparent passages of color. Forms emerge fragmentarily or almost disappear; sometimes only a trace of the bird's presence remains. I work with acrylic, charcoal, and pastel on jute and linen canvas, often left unstretched. The material remains visible and participates in the image through its texture, edges, and irregularities. In the larger works, the loose canvas allows me to extend painting beyond the conventional picture surface and bring it into a relationship with the space in which it is displayed. For me, Memory of Air is an ongoing investigation into the fragility of presence and what remains after something can no longer be seen.

Artwork