Lluis Barba

Lluis Barba’s epic, digitally manipulated images juxtapose iconic paintings from art history with photographs of modern tourists, celebrities, spectators of varied economic background, and appropriated advertising imagery. They critique the collusion between art, wealth, and glamor, particularly in the context of museum and gallery spaces. “I get elements of a reality out of context in order to put them in another reality,” he has said. “I use irony and implicit messages in the works such as the global integration of our society. I incorporate the bar code tattoo like a symbol of lost identity, alienation, and massive consumerism.”