Story Teller II

Bartow's pastel and graphite drawings, with their haunting images and electric colors, are a distinctive fusion of Native American motifs and mainstream esthetics.  He draws deeply on images from Native American mythology as well as archetypal and personal symbols, encapsulating them in a maelstrom of colors and pulsating lines.  Layering, mixing, and actually mashing the pastel pigment into the paper, he creates an alluring surface that belies the ominous images, combining life-affirming beauty with intimations of violence and death.
Tribal affiliation: Mad River Band of the Yurok tribe