Hortencia Barreto

Nuanced, vivacious colors in vivid, expressive brushstrokes characterize Brazilian artist Hortencia Barreto’s paintings. Resembling quilt-like visual poems, these compositions are crisply articulated kaleidoscopic homages to the handmade crafts of her childhood.  Nimble, whimsical forms are both joyous and stoically geometric, graced with strikingly graduated bright color. Barreto’s use of texture speaks to the egalitarian nature of textile traditions such as lacework, sewing and paper crafts. Through this incorporation the work speaks to a bygone era, and conveys a sense of being steeped in a subtle, mysterious nostalgia. In this way, the artist seeks to articulate her gratitude to the women of the Northeast who instilled a love of craft and textiles into her being. Thus Barreto’s artworks verbalize a certain reverence for the universal past. “Being an artist I have memorialized many of my experiences in poetry and in my work, using fabrics, canvas, paper and words to paint the image of my life,” she explains.

Hortencia Barreto lives and works in Brazil and exhibits her work throughout that country.