Bob Barker’s work is inspired by local scenes and people, and he often uses a muted color palette and a style inspired by the greats. His red heart umbrellas are a signature motif that began when he started doodling umbrellas and noticed a heart shape taking form.
| Medium: | Bronze |
| Format: | Sculpture |
| Size (Framed): | 39 x 23 cm |
| Signed: | No |
| Condition: | Excellent |
Inspired by the Yorkshire mill towns that shaped his youth, Bob is known for his ‘Northern Impressionism’ style. Depicting touching childhood, family and romantic scenes, his nostalgic artworks feature a neutral palette of greys and browns with splashes of vibrant colour and a unique inner glow created by the manipulation of light and shadow.
Bob’s loyal collectors are touched by the genuine feeling of nostalgia that each of his artworks evokes. His childhood memories – including riding scooters with his friends and walking home from school to the mill where his mother worked as a weaver – influence his industrial scenes, which feature themes of work, love and friendship.
To create his atmospheric scenes, Bob uses traditional techniques, including sfumato. Often seen in Renaissance paintings, this involves softening the transition between colours so they appear to evaporate like smoke. Artistic influences also include Victorian landscape painter John Atkinson Grimshaw, Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer, and JMW Turner.
Closer to home, Bob is hugely inspired by his family, whose influence appears throughout his work. Talking about his piece ‘Girl Talk’, showing two women having a chat, he says: “I was brought up by my mum and grandma and had four aunties, and though I had elder brothers, I was usually the only lad surrounded by women and it’s often been like that all my life. I’ve got two granddaughters who are now at university, who have grown up with my paintings, and I still want to be involved with their conversations. Even now in the pub, where the blokes are talking about cars, I always gravitate to the girls’ side!”
