• about
• |
• collection
• |
• consultation
• |
• contact

Tracy Silva Barbosa was born in 1977 in Massachusetts to immigrant factory workers from the Azorean Islands of Portugal. Tracy displayed an early passion for arts and an inclination toward abstract ideas. Imbued with a sense of cultural contrast and the ambitious desire to pursue a career as an artist, Tracy attended the Massachusetts College of Art. Early influences included Gustav Klimt, Donald Judd and Gerhard Richter as well as more classical paradigm found in Byzantine, Baroque, and Rococo periods. As a student traveling to Japan, the young artist was taken by the aesthetic of asymmetry and the narrative quality found in Asian scroll paintings. Upon graduation, Barbosa relocated to the San Francisco Bay area to work for John Lewis Glass for the next three years. One of her projects included the Oklahoma City Memorial. She then moved to New York City in 2002 and began to focus more on painting. Through this medium she discovered a new freedom, reflected in the prolific outturn of her paintings and sculpture for an increasingly enthusiastic contingent of collectors.

Barbosa’s contemporary works are not your ordinary landscape paintings. Her work is concerned with traditional landscape issues in our modern environment. Creating a delicate narrative vocabulary, she addresses issues such as age, sensuality and transendence. Through using birds, nature, and number patterns, she achieves a sense of lyrical motion and alludes to the passing of time. These composite landscapes are assembled from her own photography along with archived scientific drawings and diagrams. Juxtaposing this with natural paint textures and various applications of gold, silver, and copper leaf, she attempts to conjure a rich psychic realm full of color, balance and harmony.

Tracy Silva Barbosa has received several accolades in the past few years. In 2007, Tracy won first place in “Gen Art: Uncover, Discover, and Reveal”, a nationwide contest for the best emerging painter of the year.

In 2008, Tracy won a juried competition for a permanent installation at the Greenwich Atrium. For this project, Barbosa created a incredible, awe-inspiring piece measuring 50 feet in height.

In 2007, Tracy Silva Barbosa won first place in “Gen Art: Uncover, Discover, and Reveal”, a nationwide contest for the best emerging painter of the year.