Cuerpos y Espejos
Francisco De la Barra
works on paper
June 27 - August 16, 2025
Opening Reception Friday June 27, 7-10pm
Paul Petro Contemporary Art is pleased to present our Pride programming, with Stephen Andrews Saints and Sinners, comprised of works from The Apostles (1998), Francisco De la Barra Cuerpos y Espejos / Bodies and Mirrors, with new ink washes, and Paul P. Scattered Pictures, a collection-based exhibition of mostly early work.
"Mirrors frequently feature in my work, often creating a doubled image. Here, they appear in blue monochrome experiments where the ink's fluidity generates shapes resembling images, reflections, or thoughts. The doubled image can also be a projected shadow, expressing the mirror concept more dramatically and expressionistically.
"The exhibited works stem from images created in the studio and outdoors over the past year, in most cases based on photographs I have taken. Memory is central to my work, and this exhibition is no exception—memories of journeys, exploring new architecture, meeting people, and discovering places beyond societal norms. The lack of background allows viewers to place the figures in various settings and situations, stimulating imagination and desires.
"My technique remains largely unchanged, although my treatment of light on surfaces has evolved. The silhouette remains important, but I now emphasize the ink's role in shaping the body, using darker tones and allowing the ink more freedom, while reducing the importance of light modulation. Architectural spaces aren't just about the absence of the body; they're also about light's play across surfaces and the ink's behaviour within them. Intimacy remains vital: the body at rest, sleeping or waking, hints at a lover nearby, the morning after."
Francisco De la Barra
June 24, 2025
FRANCISCO DE LA BARRA, (b. 1970, Santiago, Chile) lives and work in Montreal, Canada. He holds MFAs in architecture, landscape architecture and in visual arts, the latter obtained from Université du Québec à Montreal. His work focuses on drawing and painting, most recently with the production of ink washes on paper. His interests lay in the exploration of the role of memory in the construction of images through the depiction of the male body and of architectural and natural spaces. Portraiture, the construction of masculinity and the erotics of the everyday are preoccupations at the core of his practice. He has shown his work in Canada, the United States, Chile and Argentina. This is De la Barra's second solo exhibition at PPCA.
To purchase an artwork from this exhibition, please visit our multiples and small works website, here.