Alicia Barney

In 1980 Barney was awarded first place at the third Salon Regional de Artes Visuals in Colombia, and her work has been featured in important group shows, such as the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo (2016).

Alicia Barney (born November 28, 1952) is a Colombian artist based in Cali who focuses her paintings and installation art on ecological questions and problems such as water pollution, deforestation and quality of life. She specializes in on-hand interactions with her surroundings and what the natural environment has to offer in order to educate the public about her environmental concerns. Barney's artwork reveals the evolution of her view of ecological aspects through landscape themes that hold traditional and representational vocabulary and express ecology in a creative and interesting way.

Barney was born in Cali, Colombia, in 1952. Barney studied at the College of New Rochelle, New York (BA 1974), and at the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn (MFA 1977) where she came across the art of Claes Oldenburg. Oldenburg inspired Barney to create her first ever sculpture. She created, Diario objecto I and Diario object II (Object diary I, 1977, and Object diary II, 1978-79) to show how everyday objects can create art and a storyline with simple random objects found in her primary homes, New York and Colombia. Barney is a powerful influence on young Latin American artists, especially Colombians, who have an interest in environmental issues. She is currently resident in Bogotá.