Le chorégraphe (2004) Painting by André Martins De Barros

Portrait of the artist
André Martins de Barros

André Martins de Barros was born on Sunday November 15, 1942 in Pau. His first paintings, he executed them from 1957 then, after classical, abstract, expressionist research, he returned to a classical mode to lead to a representation in which message and philosophical reflection are mixed. Does he not say himself: "to reflect is to withdraw from time."Indeed, for him, the execution and composition of a painting is a moment when his galloping mind stops and settles on a given subject from which he tries to extract all the substance.

Many theoreticians in search of human and animal becoming, conceived the existence of a collective soul, specific to each species. Similarly André Martins de Barros creates humanoids, composed of a multitude of beings of the same nature, each of them taking a very particular place in the whole that forms the superior being.

However, sometimes Martins de Barros plays with his characters and arranges them inside his painting, like a child displaying his toy soldiers, but he also seeks out the nymphs of music, who are quite naturally fond of a dance to the rhythm of the strings of a violin, as he goes to fetch the nymphs of wine, scatter gaily around a vine.

Far from being an innocent game, the oils that Martins de Barros presents to us are like the philosophical tales of Balzac, carrying a thought. We can all penetrate its secrets, by taking the time to read each creation down to the smallest detail, even if it means finding several interpretations.

For this, we are very helped by the achievements of Martins de Barros, because he presents us with very detailed and precise drawings, smooth oils, executed with the meticulousness of the painters of the Renaissance, but which hide in their interlacing, figures come moreover, with kind faces or fierce contractions.

As for the composition of the canvases themselves, the assiduous frequentation of the old and the classics means that, quite naturally, Martins de Barros applies to his paintings the laws which, for long centuries, have governed the art of painting. br />
But the definitive goal of this artist is to lead us into his world with dreamlike tendencies, in order to share with us an atmosphere and an often philosophical reflection, and which everyone can develop or discuss according to their temperament.André Martins de Barros to all appearances and the steps of a writer who, abandoning the pen, expresses himself through the brush.

Christian Germak

• Nationality: FRANCE
• Date of birth : 1942
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary French Artists