Alvaro Barrington in Seoul Burlap paintings and memories of his mother . (This link opens in a new tab).

By Park Yuna

When looking at works by Alvaro Barrington, viewers may notice the stories his works tell about how his upbringing and life has exposed him to different cultures in New York, the Caribbean and the UK, as well as the art masters that influenced him.

His “Soul to Seoul” exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac gallery in Seoul — his first solo exhibition in the city — presents 14 paintings on burlap canvases that Barrington sews together, depicting his impression of a sun setting over the horizon.

The quilt-making technique he used for the works on view was influenced by his mother and aunts as he grew up watching them quilting. His mother passed away when he was 10, the artist said.

“If my aunt sees this, she will think about how this is sewn, more than she thinks about like how I could have painted it,” the artist said at the gallery on Friday. He said it took some three weeks to sew different types of burlap together to become a canvas.

When it comes to burlap — which is common in other countries and used in different contexts — he said the fabric was used in the Caribbean to pack and export things such as cacao.

“I think there is something powerful about — whatever the culture is — that we all could see the same painting and know exactly what we are seeing, so in a way — despite the differences — we could all come together and start a conversation,” he said.