Barrington studied at Hunter College in New York and the Slade School of Fine Art in London, later teaching at both of his alma maters, as well as at the Cooper Union in New York. His first solo exhibition, which opened the same year he graduated, was curated by Klaus Biesenbach at MoMA PS1, Queens, in 2017. His work has since been shown in numerous solo and group shows, including GRACE, Tate Britain Commission, London (2024); COME HOME, Art Basel Parcours (2024); Alvaro Barrington: SPIDER THE PIG, PIG THE SPIDER, South London Gallery, London (2021); Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London (2021); and through his ongoing Tt x AB collaboration with the painter Teresa Farrell. Following a solo presentation at the London gallery in 2018, Barrington co-curated the exhibition Artists I Steal From with Julia Peyton-Jones at Thaddaeus Ropac London in 2019, with subsequent solo gallery exhibitions in Salzburg (2022), Paris Marais (2021) and Paris Pantin (2023).
2025
Soul to Seoul, Thaddaeus Ropac, Seoul, South Korea
My Mama Told Me You Was a Problem, Bitch, MASSIMODECARLO, Milan, Italy
Uncle A/Eat the Cake, San Bastiaun Chapel, Zuoz, Switzerland
2024
GRACE, Tate Britain, London, UK
COME HOME, Art Basel Parcours, cur. Stefanie Hessler, Tropical Zone, Basel, Switzerland
Alvaro Barrington and Chico da Silva, Mendes Wood DM, Casa Iramaia, São Paulo, Brazil
2023
Island Life, Nicola Vassell Gallery, New York, USA
They Got Time: YOU BELONG TO THE CITY, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
Grandma’s Land, Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
The House of St. Barnabas, London, UK
Things That Are Real: Alvaro Barrington x Dean Cross, Cement Fondu, Sydney, Australia
Human Nature, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
Oh, Sandy? Sandy, Sandy, Karma, New York, NY, USA
Oh Sandy, why did you leave me all alone, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2022
La vie en rose, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
THE GREAT TRADE – A Teaser, Saint George, Culver City, CA, USA
91–98 jfk–lax border, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Garvey 2: THE REUP, Corvi-Mora, London, UK
Sea Both Sides, Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy
2021
SPIDER THE PIG, PIG THE SPIDER, South London Gallery, London, UK
Wave Your Flags: Labor Day, Saint George Projects, Brooklyn, NY, USA
GARVEY 1: BIRTH–The Quiet Storm, Nicola Vassell Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Tt X AB: The Lot Show, Far Rockaway, New York, NY, USA
Wave your Flags, Sadie Coles and the Tabernacle, London, UK
You don’t do it for the man, men never notice. You just do it for yourself, you’re the fucking coldest, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Marais, France
Drug Culture: Vol ii Trust your local drug dealer and My words will live forever/fuck my name, Emalin, London, UK
2020
Garvey 2- they eyes were watching God, Corvi-Mora, London, UK
2019
Garvey: Sex Love Nurturing Famalay, Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
2018
A Taste of Chocolate, cur. Norman Rosenthal, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
Condo London / Alvaro Barrington, Emalin, London, UK
2017
Alvaro Barrington, cur. Klaus Biesenbach, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY, USA
2025
A Room Hung With Thoughts: British Painting Now, Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX, USA
2024
The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
Air de repos (Breathwork), Capc musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
I see his blood upon the rose, The MAC, Belfast, Ireland
Mirror of the Mind: Figuration in the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, El Espacio 23, Miami, FL, USA
Swimming, GRIMM, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Keeping Time, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana
MOTHER TONGUE: A Travelling Bluestocking Salon, Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation, London, UK
Daffodils Baptized in Butter, The Arts Club, London, UK
Before, After and Beyond, 11 Mansfield Street, London, UK
One for sorrow, two for joy, Emalin, London, UK
Loewe Lamps, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy
Giants, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany
A Study in Form (Chapter Two), cur. Arden Wohl, James Fuentes, New York, USA
2023
Linhas Tortas, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
Studio of the South, Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles, France
1983 | 2023, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Bienal das Amazônias, Belém, Brazil
Paper Trails, Mendes Wood DM, d'Ouwe Kerke, Retranchement, The Netherlands
The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Saint Louis Art Museum, MO, USA
The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, MD Museum of Art, Baltimore, USA
Thread Routes, Massimo de Carlo, Hong Kong
Birds Follow Spring, Michael Werner, New York, NY, USA
THINGS THAT ARE REAL: ALVARO BARRINGTON X DEAN CROSS, Cement Fondu, Paddington, NSW, Australia
2022
The Drawing Centre Show, Le Consortium, Dijon, France
And This Skin of Mine, to Live a Second Time, GUTS Gallery, London, UK
Repeater, Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
2021
Hand to Your Ear, Part 1 (Presence/Surplus), Emalin, London, UK
Mixing it Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
In the Eye of the Storm, Z33, Hasselt, Belgium
Pigeon Park, London, UK
11, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Tempest, Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany and Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
The Dead Don’t Die, Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland, OH, USA
Drawing Biennial, Drawing Room, London, UK
30 Years in Paris, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2020
A Focus on Painting, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
After image, MAMOTH, London, UK
Landscapes of the South, Mendes Wood DM, New York, NY, USA
No horizon, no edge to liquid, Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK
Drawing 2020, Gladstone, New York, NY, USA
100 Drawings from Now, The Drawing Center, New York, NY, USA
2019
Tt X AB: Tall Boys & A Double Shot Espresso, Emalin, London, UK
Go To Heaven, 130 E Flagler Street, Miami, FL, USA
Breathless / London Art Now, cur. Norman Rosenthal, Ca’ Pesaro Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Venice, Italy
Material Tells, cur. Daisy Desrosiers, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Canada
A Seed’s A Star, LOYAL, Stockholm, Sweden
Artists I Steal From, cur. Alvaro Barrington and Julia Peyton-Jones, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
2018
Natura Naturans, Mendes Wood DM, New York, NY, USA
The Way Things Run (Part 1: Loose Ends Don’t Tie), PS120, Berlin, Germany
Hog’s Curve, cur. Joseph Hart, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, NY, USA
Widening the Gaze, cur. Zeinab Saleh, Slade Research Centre, London, UK
2017
The Sleeping Procession, Cass Sculpture Foundation, West Sussex, UK
Woven, Rental Gallery, East Hampton, NY, USA
2024
Glastonbury Festival, Somerset, UK
Notting Hill Carnival, London, UK
2023
Glastonbury Festival, Somerset, UK
Notting Hill Carnival, London, UK
2022
Notting Hill Carnival, London, UK
The Rally—Miami, Miami, FL, USA
2021
London Zeitgeist, Piccadilly Lights, London, UK
2019
Notting Hill Carnival, London, UK
Brazil
Inhotim, Brumadinho
Denmark
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk
UK
The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire
Tate, London
Towner Museum, Eastbourne
USA
Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Miami, FL
Canada
rennie museum, Vancouver
China
Long Museum, Shanghai
Start Museum, Shanghai
X Museum, Beijing
Hong Kong
K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
Spain
Fundación NMAC, Cádiz
Loewe Foundation, Madrid
2018
Rauschenberg Residency, Captiva Island, FL, USA