Get Up Stand Up: Artists for Jamaica & LA Alvaro Barrington in benefit auction
Alvaro Barrington's work will be auctioned as part of Get Up Stand Up: Artists for Jamaica & LA on 26 February 2026 at The Living Room, Los Angeles, a major benefit auction, organised by CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), uniting the global art community in response to the devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica, and the Los Angeles wildfires.
Alvaro Barrington is renowned for his expanded approach to painting – characterised by the use of unconventional and found materials, technical experimentation and non-traditional displays. True to form, The sea comes and goes (2025) enacts a playful dialogue between diverse materials, sources of inspiration and personal histories. Combining acrylic, oil and sand, Barrington renders a seascape in gestural, horizontal brushstrokes of various shades of blue and green, offset with vibrant streaks of burnt orange. The burlap canvas is encased in a thick frame assembled from wood and corrugated aluminium, and slicked with lime green enamel paint. Barrington blends memories of his childhood in the Caribbean with art historical references, ranging from Robert Rauschenberg’s unorthodox approach to materials, to Etel Adnan’s distilled, jewel-like landscape paintings. ‘There’s often a lot of positioning around questions of hierarchy or tradition in art,’ Barrington says. ‘For me, the more you look, the more you realise there are no rules.’
