Urban Landscapes | Modern Icons

There are things we know are there, but don’t often see —  because they appear only in the darkness, obscured by the light of daily existence. Things strange yet beautiful. Frightening yet comforting. Puzzling yet obvious. This is the nocturnal world in which Joshua Barber lives.

But Barber’s not afraid of the dark. And he’s not as interested in the proverbial monster in the closet as he is in the daisy the monster is holding. Barber straddles the line between good and bad, light and dark, and claims the territory as his own.

Both realist and transcendentalist, Barber sees the natural world, but also reads the back stories that imbue it. Maybe that’s why his colors are often so saturated. Because life, after all, is saturated with its attendant hopes, joys, fears, disappointments and mysteries. Which is why we can’t just look at his work once; we have to keep looking – and walk away with something new every time.

“Each of our lives is punctuated by degrees of solitude that not even the closest intimacy can break. This loneliness feeds our fears, nightmares and our deepest regrets. But loneliness is not bad in itself — when we’re alone, we pay attention. Small events take on deep significance and hold this answer we wish we could share with the world, but we know just wouldn’t come out right. We are left with a personal, scattered playlist of seconds. Whether they are good or bad, they are our own and I find great beauty in that.”