Ray BARRY (1931-2022) Three Original Works Two studies of buildings covered in winter snow, each mixed media, signed, 35cm x 52cm and 18cm x 25cm; together with a further mixed media of Jesus upon the cross, unsigned, and a photographic exposure print, signed. Ray Barry loved Cornwall and art. A Director of the St Ives Society of Artists, appointed in 2010, and Associate of both the Newlyn and Penwith Society of Artists, Ray originally started painting in the 1950s while working for Cable and Wireless in the Sudan. He exhibited at the Red Sea Club, Port Sudan and The New Stanley Gallery, Nairobi as he began to cultivate his artistic talent.
Subsequent to his career with Cable and Wireless, Ray settled in Cornwall and evolved his art style while scooping top prize as the winner of 3 Spires Arts Festival, Truro. He solo exhibited at Falmouth Arts Club, Penzance Arts Club, The Crypt Gallery St Ives, The Cornerstone Gallery St Ives, Bakehouse Gallery St Ives, as well as jointly exhibiting with fellow artists Jenny Woodhouse, Bob Devereux, Rachel Kantaris, Patricia Dearden, Stephen Dove, John Beer and Victor Bramley.
An established artist locally by the 1990s, Ray Barry graduated Falmouth School of Art in 1997 (with other alumni graduating that year including Paul Wadsworth and Jenny Woodhouse), with a degree in Fine Art and had a studio in St Ives before relocating his studio to Ludgvan. An established fellow artist among his peers, a hand-written invite to Bryan Pearce’s 75th birthday lay amongst his treasured possessions.
Ray Barry constantly strove to explore colour and textural values with passion, working primarily in oils and acrylics. Of his work, he quoted, “I enjoy creating order out of chaos and conversely 'deconstructing' order to the point of meaningful abstraction….I paint with a sense of adventure rather than premeditation…I love the poetics of Abstraction “.
Away from his career as an artist, Ray was also a keen stamp collector with his talent and interests overlapping when he created, established and designed stamps for Gugh Island, Isles of Scilly, with the designs of these sold in our Stamps and Collectors auction earlier this year.