“I create colourful works of art to inspire hope, joy and wonder in the everyday. In my creative practice, I am constantly driven (through play) to discover how far I can push the boundaries of my works within the media I use.”
Bridget Barnett's work could be described as experimental Pop Abstraction. Aspects of her work refer to historical conventions of gestural mark-making and lyrical imagery common to pop surrealism but additionally the cartoon network. The works are significantly informed by vibrant colour, texture, contrast, and ironic visual contradiction. Her work carries a willful and mischievous disregard for convention, driven to discover what she can push in materiality within the boundaries of current fine art.
Having a propensity to see things in Looney Tune imagery, her base vocabulary is in simple shapes, where quirkiness is discovered in organic blobs and sponge-filled bananas. In her work, speech bubbles and references to cartoon anatomy dislocated from recognizable contexts jumble together in awkward combinations. She creates a series of playful irreverent experiments that result in unexpected outcomes.
While not taking herself too seriously, Bridget's work is also about endurance and hopefulness as she celebrates life, humour, and the world around her.
Of Irish and Scottish descent, Bridget moved to Kirikiroa with partner Adrian in 2021 to study the Bachelor of Contemporary Art through Wintec - completing in 2023 and graduating in 2024. While continuing to develop her creative practice in ceramics, sculpture,and painting, she is currently studying towards her Honours Degree.
