Concrete Alchemy tour members plot their first wall.

Note: In 2008 Albus Cavus invited me to join fifteen, exuberant graffiti writers on an unprece-dented, five-State, eight-day road trip.

That eye-opening experience was later distilled into one chapter of my not-yet published book, “Touching the Hood: A First-Hand Insight into the Secret World of Graffiti Writers and Their Culture.” This interview took place just before the Concrete Alchemy tour was launched, and it is relevant now because my book project is nearly complete. Read the rest of this entry »

"Muse Collecting Her Thoughts" © Ricardo Barros

A muse, as most people commonly think of one, is a person who inspires creativity in an artist. Muses are stereotypically women. Many artists of legendary stature, including Pablo Picasso, Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, abandoned all other responsibilities in pursuit of their muse. Read the rest of this entry »

Thread by Ricardo Barros

I recently referred to a certain image as having “integrity” in a workshop discussion. (I can’t remember which photograph; it certainly could have been any number of them.) Evidently some students were unclear as to what I meant in using that word. At a subsequent session, one of them asked me: When does a flower photograph demonstrate integrity?

This was an unexpectedly difficult question to answer.

Read the rest of this entry »

By C. Ambiaso

AfterImage No. 2, by Ricardo Barros. (Silhouetted version of full-color photograph. A naked woman faces front in lineup with clothed men.)

Stories take many forms, including stories told through the human body. Photographer Ricardo Barros’s nudes address narratives of heroic proportions. He uses the body or, more precisely, creative manifestations of women’s bodies, to address larger truths. His recent work, along with that of sculptor Martha Posner, will be on view at the Dalet Gallery in Philadelphia for the month of May in a show entitled Fabricating Truths, Shaping Stories. Read the rest of this entry »

Caroline Gibson with Rawhide Mask by Ricardo Barros

I believe that, if you make room for them, good things will happen in your life.

Caroline Gibson and I had never met before I photographed her. I had no expectations of the imagery we produced at our first meeting. In fact, I thought it was me who was doing her a favor. My wife, Heather, had seen Linny’s artwork and wanted to help her by arranging for its exhibition at a nearby art center. Heather ‘volunteered’ my services to produce newspaper publicity prints for that show. Read the rest of this entry »

Joseph Acquah is a native of Ghana. Lots of people ask, so let me mention this detail first: he has ritual scars on both cheeks. Joseph works at a sculpture foundry near my studio; we met when he commissioned me to photograph his artwork. I remember two of my observations when he delivered his sculpture. First, nearly all of the sculptures were highly realistic. Second, he was an extremely pious man. As carefully as Joseph might render the detail in one of his sculptures, he is profoundly aware that The Almighty perfected the original and we men cannot improve upon His work.

One of the pieces Joseph brought to my studio was a self-portrait. When I looked at this bronze bust, I didn’t see metal. I saw Joseph. Read the rest of this entry »