Tereza Barnard is a painter known for psychologically layered still life and figurative work. Czech-born and based in Mallorca, she works in oil on plexiglass, a surface chosen for the precision it demands.
Her current series, You Shouldn't Have, combines painting technique with constructed objects, subtle visual distortions, and dry wit. Each painting is a staged scenario. Objects for it are made, not found.
Her work has entered private collections in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. She lives and works in Mallorca.
Artist Statement
I construct situations before I paint them.
Objects are selected, altered, designed or commissioned specifically for each work. Jewellery, tableware, food and other familiar things become part of arrangements that exist primarily because I need to paint them.
Sometimes this is straightforward. Sometimes a ring needs a secret compartment, a silver tray requires an inscription, or a perfectly serviceable Barbie has to lose her head. Nobody asked for this level of product development, but here we are.
I’m interested in the point at which something beautiful and carefully presented becomes psychologically unreliable. The objects remain attractive, the table is still properly set and everyone appears to be behaving themselves. I don’t find this particularly reassuring, although it does seem to be how the paintings make friends.
The painting is the final record of the situation.