michael barringer

Drawing on themes as varied as cave art and poetry to Gee’s Bend quilts, Atlanta painter Michael Barringer creates abstract works alive with layers of color, energy and emotion.

His paintings bring these disparate influences together in a visual language that is uniquely his own.

“I think a question which is always present for me is: how does the world fit together from its many parts, and what drives our need to know and create and seek the spiritual,” said Barringer.

Artist: Barringer was born and raised in Granite Quarry, a small town near Salisbury, NC. He earned an English degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.

In 1989, he moved to Atlanta. In the early 1990’s, Barringer worked at the now-closed Abstein Gallery in Atlanta during the day and at an Italian restaurant in the evenings. During any free time available, he painted.

Barringer also studied drawing and painting in a graduate program at Georgia State University under Medford Johnston.

Eventually, he found representation with several galleries, mainly in the Southeast, and was able to do art full-time.

Studio: Barringer Studio is located in a large, renovated barn outside his home in Lilburn, GA. He has maintained a full-time working studio since 1992.

In the beginning: Barringer, who enjoyed drawing at an early age, credits some of his creativity and curiosity to family.

Both of his grandfathers were talented. One was a stonecutter in a local quarry. The other, a blacksmith for Southern Railroad, who worked at the famous roundhouse in Spencer, NC.

Barringer’s father loved the outdoors, music and gardening. His mother is an avid reader.

“I suppose some of their ability for making objects, and crafting out form came down through the gene pool,” said Barringer.

Art & materials: Paintings on canvas and paper, using acrylic and oil paint, modeling paste, charcoal, graphite, colored pencils and pastels ($1,000 for small works on paper to $11,000 for large paintings on canvas).

Layered paintings often feature ovals and circles, plant forms with snaking tendrils, fine lines and patches of soft, faded color with bands of heavily brushed color and bars of pure, solid color.

“I often lay down the paint in pieces, masking off forms, just as a quilter fits together swatches of fabric,” said Barringer, who enjoys piling on one pure color with another to produce visual energy.

Themes & starting points:

Gee’s Bend quilts.
Hubble Space Telescope images.
Cave art.
Nature and travel.
Sacred sites and texts.
Ancient rituals.
Jazz music.

Must-have tools: Palette knife, masking tape, templates, laptop — and stereo.

Inspirations:

The written word in poetry, novels, religious history, anthropology, cosmology, biology and art history.
Poets: TS Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Kenneth Rexroth and Walt Whitman.
Artists: Brice Marden, James Bishop, Willem deKooning, Paul Klee and Kurt Schwitters.

Special commissions:

For the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta: a large work on two joined wood panels. One side featured an abstract notion of the American flag. The other, the Polish flag given the same abstract treatment.

Both sides were overlaid with a large transparent version of the five Olympic rings in black, with the five Olympic colors (which represent the colors used in all the national flags of the world) contained in a band along the bottom of the painting, side to side. It was displayed in the Avondale Estates City Hall at the time. Avondale Estates, in metro Atlanta, served as the official headquarters and host town for the Polish Olympic Team.

A large selection of paintings, both works on paper and larger works on canvas were installed at the Elevation Lofts Hotel in downtown Asheville, NC. The lofts are located in a restored building above the Momentum Gallery.

Recent awards/honors:

Hambidge Hive Art Auction, Atlanta, GA. 2026.
Invitation for a solo show at Loom Gallery and Event Space, Fort Mill, SC. 2027 (Date TBA).

Recent project: Thanks to Mometum Gallery, five paintings on canvas were installed, along with art by Atlanta artist and graphic designer Steven L. Anderson, at The North Carolina Arboretum, in Asheville, NC. 2026.

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