Anthony Barrows Wants All of JP Talking About Art

At his home near Jackson Square one recent Sunday afternoon, Anthony Barrows described how he came to be an artist. 

“I started as a graffiti writer.  I tagged trains, buildings, underpasses . . . I was arrested five times.  It’s a felony!” he exclaimed.  “I needed to do something creative.”

Barrows, a Boston native, found his footing and his medium while studying at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he earned his MFA.

 “I was a printmaker from the get-go.  Making prints is a multi-stage process," he explained.  "You must conceptualize, make sketches, think in reverse, and sometimes in negative space.  I learned patience and discipline.” 

Made while living in Oakland, Barrows first series were what he calls “Tape Prints.”  He demonstrated how the minimalist rectangles were made from a zinc plate.  The images, said the articulate artist, “are deeply embossed, architectural, sculptural, and introspective.” 

With the outbreak of Gulf War II, when the U.S. invaded Iraq, Barrows' work became less personal and more political.  He created a series of black and white prints with images of some of the principle architects of the war including Bush, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz. 

The printmaker’s work also explores America’s favorite pastime.  “War and baseball are two of the country’s main exports,” stated Barrows, a lifelong Red Sox fan. 

The sports images are varied.  In “Strike Zone” Barrows actually tossed a baseball to create the shapes and stitch lines of the image.  Others show the figures of baseball players abstracted, without bats or gloves, looking like casualties of war. 

 “I am an American,” he stated.  “I grew up here.  But I have conflicting feelings about the country.  There is beauty, grace, and energy but also something terribly aggressive, murderous, and kleptocratic.”

 “Abrahamic Munitions” is a series of prints showing the flags of Israel, Palestine, and the United States superimposed with images of weapons.  “Uzi” from this series was recently accepted at the North American Print Biennial.  Curated by well-known artist Jim Dine, the exhibit runs through May 1 at the Danforth Museum in Framingham.   Barrows credits his partner, painter Mariana Negron-Quiñones, with mixing the exact shade of blue for the Israeli flag depicted in the print. “She has a great sense of color,” he noted.

Barrows most recent work is a series of “Calaveras” or skulls like those seen in “Day of the Dead” celebrations.  The artist, who is half-Mexican, has created self-portraits, as well as images of Negron-Quiñones, the couple’s child, and even their cat.  “There is something timeless about the personal,” he remarked. 

Both he and Negron-Quiñones, who is originally from Puerto Rico, are involved in JP’s art scene.  Negron-Quiñones is the Head Coordinator for .  With the intention of increasing Latino participation in the annual art festival, Barrows has served as Open Studio’s Site Coordinator at the Cheverus Building near Hyde Square since 2009. 

“I have two hopes for art in JP,” he stated. “One is that it can be enlivened.  The other is that I’d like the notion of community to be expanded. Music is very unifying.  I’d like to see all of JP talking about art, from Moss Hill to Egleston Square and from Green Street to Jackson Square.”