"Integrating text, figures, and symbolism from Western and Eastern cultures into his paintings, Bari Kumar artfully refers to his own life experience as well as the global trend toward cultural pluralism. Kumar's expressive and consistent treatment of symbols of joy and suffering and the thick and sexy texture of the paintings' surfaces charges his work physically and psychologically..."
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"Kumar is an atelier-style figurative painter, a classicist in style and temperament, whose allegorical figures flaunt baroque folds of flesh that are sensual to the point of grotesque and often strike ritualized poses that inhabit the nexus of religion and science. His sepia- and flesh-toned palettes, finely precise line work and affection for the monolithic centralized figure, invite comparisons to Da Vinci despite the overtly modern flavor of his work, which comes from his use of text as an element of composition and from his wry political humor..."
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"With their no-frills realist style and theatrical air, Bari Kumar's paintings have the graphic pull of film posters, though the films
advertised seem composed entirely of symbols. In one painting, a nearly nude male figure floats on a green field; he is clearly based on Renaissance pictures of the crucified Jesus but has black skin and the four arms of a Hindu god and is missing his head, which has been severed at the neck..."
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"Born in Andhra Pradesh in 1966, Los Angeles-based painter Bari Kumar studied at the Rishi Valley School, founded by the philosopher J. Krishnamurti, then moved to L.A. in his late teens to pursue graphic design at Otis/Parsons School of Design. Consequently, like so many Asian artists in the United States, he belongs to two cultures, a double affiliation that makes its way into the deepest recesses of his art..."
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