02 > artists > Will Barras

London - UK

Will Barras is the artists’ artist. His invention of composition and fluid lines provide poignant detail in liquid abstraction. The subject manner is readily familiar, but captured in a manner that seems to jar time and space with psychedelic abstraction. Will does not believe in Leisure. His life is his work. Illustrating, his way of expressing the emotional movements of this labour. It is therapy and pleasure and necessity. His now famous Hip Hop Don’t Stop album sleeves and years with the Scrawl Collective, were early indications that the poetry guiding his pen or brush would produce ever more intimate portrayals of daily encounters. Though Will is more passionate about Cricket, Football and even the art of the poached egg than he is of Skate or Snowboarding, he is hailed as one of the visual artists who best represents these influential creative movements. This is not only an indicator of his prolific work rate and good nature, his illustrations featuring on all types of boards, clothes and mural campaigns, but more so of his unique voice, technical competency and sense of exploration.

Highly sought after both for commercial and private commissions, Will divides himself between directing for the Animation Production Company Bermuda Shorts, designing graphics for projects that stimulate him and undertaking a truly grueling exhibition and event schedule. Last year he participated in the highly acclaimed Wooster on Spring exhibition that people waited five hours in line to see in New York City. He was invited to exhibit at the Scope Art Fair on the occasion of Art Basel, Miami at the close of 2007, having participated in shows in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Brussels, Edinborough, Mayrhofen, Oslo, Copenhagen, Bratislava, Cologne, Budapest, Warsaw and London earlier in the year.

In 2008 Will is also preparing his first large solo show at the StolenSpace Gallery in London, exhibiting his work at the Scope Art Fair in NY and during Art Basel.

“I do art everyday, I try and do normal hours, but I do find I have bursts of creativity. I try to approach art in the same way a plumber might approach a central heating system, I just want to carry on doing it and just enjoy it, At the moment, I really enjoy it and hope I’m still doing this when I’m eighty, and I probably will be, because I don’t own any property and I haven’t started a pension. If I lost my creative spirit I would work in a bike shop or have a driving job....”