Bio
I’m a visual artist, designer, creative director, and musician. I am currently producing paintings, prints, constructions and installations that draw on my background as a designer and graphic communicator.
background
I was born in Dover, New Jersey, a working-class town just west of New York City.
The creation and manipulation of images, text and sound has interested me for as long as I can remember. As a kid I loved newspapers, magazines, books, and just about anything printed on paper. I loved musical instruments and tape recorders.
But I think it was the discovery of Silly Putty that really hit a nerve. I found it amazing that I could steal images right out of the newspaper and manipulate them.
education
Can you think back to an event in your childhood that was fairly mundane, but influenced the rest of your life? Here’s one:
One day in elementary school, our art teacher Mr. Huntzinger was presenting an album of art reproductions. When he got to the “modern art” pieces, I was knocked out. With all the worldly sophistication of a 9-year-old, I decided then and there that all traditional art was old-fashioned and boring, while all modern art was cool and exciting.
My high school art teacher, Dan Krzywicki, was a talented and accomplished abstract painter. He had a profound influence on me. “Mr K” made me feel that art was important and that being an artist was something good.
I later earned a BA from what is now William Paterson University, with a focus on graphic design, art history, filmmaking, and media communications. My professors there included the art critic Gregory Battcock, filmmaker Umberto Bonsignori, sculptor William Finneran, and the painter John Day. I was particularly influenced by my optimistic and energetic printmaking teacher, Dr. Parris and by my Contemporary Communications professor, Cliff Adelman. Jesse Collins, one of my design teachers, was exceedingly kind and patient with my somewhat off-kilter approach to his assignments.
Sometimes it’s the simplest things that stick with a student. Professor Collins’ bemused patience, Dr. Parris’ infectious enthusiasm and Professor Adelman’s encouraging comments in the margins of my papers gave me a feeling of affirmation that truly pushed me along.
barth and co design
After graduation I started working as an independent graphic designer and art director. A timely explosion of business growth in Northern New Jersey helped me add clients, and I eventually founded the design firm Barth and Co. My wife Marcie soon joined as a partner, and with our talented team we produced some great work in a variety of media for clients large and small. Along the way, we received national recognition for excellence in graphic communications.
music
With Dreux Bassoul and Steve Peer, I was a founding member of the band TV TOY. We were sometimes referred to as purveyors of “prog-punk” and enjoyed some critical acclaim on the peripheries of the 70s punk/new wave movements in New York.
I later hosted the Tower of Babble radio program on freeform WNTI 91.9 FM in Hackettstown, NJ, and was a frequent guest of The Mickster’s classic Dangerous Rock and Roll Show on that station.
life!
Marcie and I live in Puerto Rico.
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Selected Exhibitions and Activities:
2023 Commission piece for Wilmington Airport (ILG) commemorating inaugural flights to San Juan, PR
2023 Ongoing gallery exhibition at Sana Farm to Table, Ríncon, Puerto Rico
2022 El Coqui of Rincon magazine artist profile
2021 RobBarth.com Website relaunch
2020 El Coqui Gallery Shop relaunch
Solo Exhibition
2013 Branches Solo Exhibition; Speakeasy Art, Boonton, NJ
Group Exhibitions
2019 These Walls Can Talk; Curators: Paul and Kristy Jach; Speakeasy Art, Boonton, NJ
2015 The Art of the Mix Tape; Curators: Paul and Kristy Jach; Speakeasy Art, Boonton, NJ
2014 Viewpoints 2014, Juror: Sue Scott; Aljira Center for Contemporary Art; Studio Montclair; Newark, NJ
2014 What’s So Funny, Curators: Exhibition Committee; Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ
2014 Our Local Talent, Curator: Raúl Villarreal; Zufall Health Center, Dover, NJ
2014 Metro 30, Curators: Franc Palaia and Colleen Thornton; City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
2013 Paper or Plastic, Curators: Paul and Kristy Jach; Speakeasy Art, Boonton, NJ.
2013 Rites of Spring, Curator: Jeanne Brasile; The Gallery at 14 Maple, Morristown, NJ
2013 Munny Makers; Curators: Paul and Kristy Jach; Speakeasy Art, Boonton, NJ
2013 ABZ et cetera, Curators: Suzanne Gray & Donna Seager; Sebastopol Center for the Arts Sebastopol, CA
2013 Persona, Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera; Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ
2013 Encuentros-Encounters, Curator: Raúl Villarreal; Zufall Health Center, Dover, NJ
2013 Nocturnes, Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera; Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ
2012 Munny Makers, Curators: Paul and Kristy Jach; Speakeasy Art, Boonton, NJ
2012 Disconnected, Curator: Jonathan Greene; The Gallery at 14 Maple, Morristown, NJ
2012 Art Cycle, Curator: Lowell Craig; Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
2011 Works on Paper, Curators: Mike Paquette and Paul Jach; Speakeasy Gallery, Boonton, NJ
2011 Humor In Art, The Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, NJ
2011 Heavenly Bodies, Curator: Dean Harte; Skyclad Gallery, Boonton, NJ
2011 Water, Water, Anywhere, Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera; Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ
2010 Who We Are: Contemporary Portraits, Curator: Virginia Fabbri Butera; Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ
2009 Pura Cuba, Curators: José M. Rodeiro and Raúl Villarreal; Perth Amboy Arts Center, Perth Amboy, NJ