Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Reen Barrera’s ‘Ohlala’ Character Lives in Paintings, Sculpture

With his signature “Ohlala” character, Reen Barrera creates both mixed-media paintings and windable toys. The figure moves between cutesy and menacing iterations, appearing both hardened and crudely decorated. In the moving wooden sculptures, the deceptively simple actions show ingenuity from the artist.

With his signature “Ohlala” character, Reen Barrera creates both mixed-media paintings and windable toys. The figure moves between cutesy and menacing iterations, appearing both hardened and crudely decorated. In the moving wooden sculptures, the deceptively simple actions show ingenuity from the artist.

“In some artworks, I discreetly take on socio economic classes,” the artist has said. “Some people are born rich, mid class, some are poor. But the common ground is, everybody will have no choice but to deal with it. So I cover all their heads with a canvas cloth to give OhLala a freedom to paint their own symbols on their heads as if they are designing their own fate. And I guess that is what we all have in common, the power to make things happen for ourselves.”

See more of Barrera’s work below.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Whimsy, humor and fantasy collide in the sculpture of Beijing artist Wang Ruilin. Some pieces are realistic reproductions of animals’ bodies while others manipulate these bodies to create an unexpected effects. His “Horse Play” series feel especially humorous. The horses have expressive eyes and tuck in their necks almost petulantly. In one piece, horses pile on top of each other into a pyramid; at the top a horse stands with his head cocked to one side. Wang highlights each flesh fold on these horses, making their sculptural bodies seem lively.
The work of Sean Landers has long examined the relationship between artists and their own work, including the adventures of the character Plankboy. In a recent show at Rodolphe Janssen Gallery, he shared new paintings featuring Plankboy, many taking on mythological narratives. Landers was last featured on our site here.
Michelle Avery Konczyk's beautifully strange portraits of young women with ghostly appearances and third eyes are a far cry from the cheerful, impressionistic paintings we commonly associate with the watercolor medium. "It is my goal," the artist says, "to push the boundaries of the medium and take it where no artist has gone before, not only in technique and subject matter, but in presentation." Moving between the realms of both realism and surrealism, Konczyk's work is layered with imagery that juxtaposes love and beauty with darkness and morbidity as a means to explore "the beauty that lies within our ugly realities."
Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan tackle displacement, community development, and memory in their cities and structures made of cardboard. Their work ranges from these sculptures and installations to drawing, paintings, and works on paper. Their current, major installation at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, "Pillars: Project Another Country," “explores fundamental ideas about what creates community, what constitutes family, and how homes are fabricated around human needs and relationships.”

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List