Johan Barrett

Johan Barrett

Born in 1983 in Uppsala, Johan Barrett grew up in both Pennsylvania, United States and in Sweden. Stockholm has been his home since 2008, where he works as a graphic designer and artist. Barrett received his Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Communications at the Beckman College of Design in 2011. Barrett’s work has previously been exhibited at Liljevalch’s Vårsalong, Taverna Brillo - an exhibition in Stockholm that sold out in no time, as well as the one-day group show “Got if for Cheap/GIFC” at Steinsland Berliner art gallery. Barrett has even been part of ”Paper Cuts”, a group show put together by Kristian Day, whom is a curator and gallerist in London. Barrett’s work is represented, among others, in Stockholm Art’s art collection. Barrett is particularly interested in contrasts and points of tension. Some of his pieces are like dark fairy tales of our present world, but always with a child-like sense of hope and comfort. Others are embellished dreams of idyllic places but always with an underlying threat or sense of friction. Barrett’s paintings look to capture a feeling that, while it is a wonderful place of amazement, something is sick in this world. Holiday pictures on Instagram and the classic children’s books he reads to his little ones are his greatest inspiration right now. His paintings are characterized as being colorful and imaginative, with a mixture of concrete and abstract motifs, recognized as being mysterious and childish, yet adult.