Maitena BARRET

When I was a child, I regularly crossed the Mediterranean to go to Algeria where a part of my family lived. I was dazzled by the light and intensity of the colours, from there came my desire to paint, which became a necessity and then a commitment. In the School of Applied Arts school I studied color; at the School of Fine Arts I learned how to observe and draw the human body. Discovering Goya’s work was for me a masterly and decisive encounter. Then, my work as a painter turned towards human representation.

The people I paint, on a real or even larger scale, on canvas or paper, are my contemporaries, those around me, those with whom I live, those I admire, those I meet, who defend, show, or claim something that interests me, that I share; they embody the testimonies of my area. I observe and stage them in order to question, to express my commitment or disagreement, to fight against ideas or to defend them. Sometimes, it is just in order to show, to transmit.