Alvaro Barrington was first born (b.1983) from Emelda Barrington and then birth into various cultural states. He moved to London in 2015 to complete an MFA at the Slade School of Fine Art (2017). As a painter whose canvases routinely incorporate industrial burlap, yarn, and self-constructed wooden frames, Barrington conceives of the picture plane as a site of architectural and bodily encounter. His work draws on Caribbean vernacular motifs such as hibiscus, yams, woven textiles. Alongside the visual culture of hip-hop, his works collapse the distance between painting, garment, and communal memory. As he has said: “I think about painting as a way to build a world... I’m always thinking about the relationship between the canvas and the frame, and how that relates to the body, and how that relates to space.”

Barrington has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions worldwide, including Grace, Tate, London (2024); Spider the Pig, Pig the Spider, South London Gallery, London (2021); and Alvaro Barrington, MoMA PS1, New York (2017).