Art

Esther Barend

Outer Journey:

I went to Galerie Rue Toulouse art gallery on Royal Street.  I was drawn in from a painting I saw through the window.  I was unable to take pictures (even if they were for school).  The paintings were done by Esther Barend.  By the time I got up to guy in the gallery many of the other students had come into the gallery so I was unable to ask him any questions.  He did give me a flyer, but I decided to do my own research.  Esther was born into a family of artists in the Netherlands.  She first began with jewelry making and then went onto the Academy of Fine Arts.  After about 3 years she felt she had to go her own way, this is where she tirelessly worked on finding her style (Boy, did it pay off!)  Barend’s painting can be found in collections in USA, Europe, United Arab Emirates, Japan, and Australia.

Esther uses what appears to be oil paints.  She uses dimension to her advantage, layering paint on top of each other to bring it to life.  One thing that I noticed is she doesn’t stick to complimentary colors (Red with green, orange with blue, and yellow with purple, she uses a lot of contrast.  This draws your eyes to different parts of the picture, as if there is always more to discover.  She says she doesn’t like to have close-minded pictures where it could only represent one thing.  She uses her style of painting to encourage viewers to use their own imagination.

Upon viewing her website, I discovered she also does abstract paintings and portraits in black and white as well.  Esther clearly has an eye (and talent) for art.  Her abstract pieces spoke to me as much as her portrait pieces. They use the same brush style and dimension work, but are very open to interpretation.  She has a beautiful red abstract piece that is unlike her other paintings as red is the only color used.  It’s deep, profound, and bold.  If ever given the opportunity I would love to own a piece or two from her collection.

Inner Journey:

I enjoy art, of all kinds.  When it comes to art I have to be drawn to it, it doesn’t matter if it is realism or abstract. Esther Barend’s art drew me in off the streets.  I saw through the windows her paintings and walked right in, I wasn’t even sure if my friends had followed me.  I didn’t even bothering looking at other pictures in the gallery because I had already found the one that spoke to me.  I feel what drew me to her work was I could feel the emotion in the painting, it was like that old saying, “if walls could talk”.  Well if these paintings could talk I bet I could have listened all day.  Her paintings weren’t flat, there was dimension to them, often colors that would be conflicting of each other laid right next to each other.  I think her art spoke to me through emotions.  It was like these women in the paintings were not perfect, but they were beautiful.  It reminded me of basic human connection.  Every person has a story that includes pain, anguish, happiness, success, and failure and I felt that is what Esther was conveying in her portrait paintings.  I think I like this so much because I am a very in tune person to other’s emotions.  I care about who a person is, what their story is, and where they are going and I felt that the paintings were displaying.  It was like with each color represented a different emotion and how that person felt it depended on how heavy the paint was laid or how long the brush stroke was.  I think the way she paints can elicit a new emotion each time you see her paintings depending on how the viewer’s emotions are for the day.  That day I saw imperfect women in the paintings, wearing their past as a badge of honor, looking beautiful as ever.