Bern Barry 'Distraction by Abstraction'

10 – 29 March 2026

Artist Statement

“Distraction isn’t a defined artistic term for a technique, but can refer to how abstract art might intentionally or unintentionally divert a viewer’s attention from a recognisable subject to the expressive qualities of the medium itself”.

“In contrast, abstraction is the process of creating non-representational art by moving away from realistic imagery, focusing instead on forms, shapes, colour and texture”.

Bern says, “I am constantly working in my head as to what I see in and around me. The challenge for me is to work out and understand shapes, forms, colours and texture, which is shown in this exhibition”.

In September and October of 2024, Bern spent these months travelling and painting in Italy; this exhibition has influences from those travels. “Understanding who I am as a painter is challenging, but what I do know is that I need to paint”.

Artist Bio

Bern Barry grew up in the farming community of Culgoa in the Mallee region of country Victoria. While working in Canberra, he attended a Summer School for art at the ANU. His passion for drawing and painting saw him doing many sketches of the Monaro region of New South Wales, where he used to travel to as a child to visit family in Cooma. It is this love of the countryside that drives his inspiration and fuels his creativity. Previously residing in Trentham and now in Glenlyon in Central Victoria, he works from his studio, painting every day and drawing from the beauty that surrounds him in that area.

Bern’s work is mostly in oils & acrylics; however has worked with fabrics in installation work.

His paintings are landscapes of an abstract nature, inspired by what he sees and interprets. For this exhibition, Distraction by Abstraction, he said, “It is the colours, movement of the grassland, the terrain and skies in my surroundings that inspire me. Every day brings a new opportunity to see the landscape in a new and different light. Loving the change in seasons creates new colours and movement that inspires”

Previous Exhibitions

The Backspace Gallery Ballarat - October 2014

ContainArt Trentham - August 2015

MyBookshop Toorak - October 2015

QDOS Gallery Lorne - March 2017

Installation work, Trentham “Only a Jockey” - March 2018

&Gallery@Fedsqaure Melbourne - 2022

&Gallery Sorrento - January 2024

Radical Fieldz Glenlyon - March 2024

Bern has been commissioned several times and has work in private collections in Australia, the UK & USA.