nothin Art Therapy Lifeline For Ailing Artist | New Haven Independent

Art Therapy Lifeline For Ailing Artist

DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTO

First Barros was diagnosed with HIV, then stage 4 cancer.

I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for the art,” said Kevin Andre Molina Garcia Barros, an ailing artist with a first-ever exhibition beginning Friday. He wonders if he will be well enough to attend the opening.

The exhibit, entitled Lifelines: Share the Journey,” at Grove Gallery, runs through Sept. 4.

Barros, 54, is one person with two very pressing problems. After living with HIV for the past 13 years, Barros recently received another devastating diagnosis after weeks of battling a persistent fever that, at first, left medical personnel flummoxed.

A registered nurse now on disability, Barros said that his insistence on a CAT scan led to the diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and more bad news. The cancer was categorized as stage 4 (B), an advanced form of the disease.

Barros next to a tape painting by local artist Ezriel Gelbfish, an homage to the work of artist Keith Haring, who died of AIDS.

The diagnosis of HIV, as devastating as it was, was manageable, and for years Barros was able to continue working. He compared his condition to that of a chipped vase — a Tiffany vase.” Though he retains the handsome features that, in his teen years, took him to Paris and Milan as a model, internally he has been living with a sense of being damaged.

You know there’s a defect inside,” he said.

As Barros grew increasingly symptomatic with complications from HIV, he realized that his work as a nurse was not sustainable. I was in dire straits, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually,” he said. As a nurse, that’s really devastating. I’m supposed to know what to do in these types of crisis. I prided myself on being my patients’ best advocate. Now I had to be my own advocate.”

A highly symmetrical painting by Barros.

Eight years ago, Barros turned to AIDS Project New Haven (APNH), Connecticut’s oldest AIDS service organization, for support. Three years into the program, Barros learned about a new art therapy program being offered at APNH, but was not initially inclined to participate. I didn’t get the relationship between therapy and art,” he said.

Calling himself a pragmatist and realist,” Barros was also desperate to find relief from the all-consuming crush of mental and physical pain. He eventually agreed to give the art therapy classes a try. Maybe this crock will work,” he recalled thinking.

The art therapy program at APNH was begun in 2008, the result of coordination between Evie Lindemann, Clinical Coordinator of the Master of Arts in Art Therapy Program at Albertus Magnus College, and Nicholas Boshnack, Director of Client Services at APNH. It joined a range of support services the agency offered, but also provided a unique internship opportunity for select students from the Albertus art therapy program, who have conducted classes in the small, basement studio space at APNH. Students have also organized client art exhibitions over the years.

Signage outreach at APNH encourages AIDS testing.

Artwork by the program’s clients, APNH staff, and some local artists now graces the walls at the agency. APNH Executive Director Chris Cole said that great pride was taken in creating a more meaningful home environment by replacing the agency’s previous generic Hotel Liquidator-style art. Cole was also instrumental in raising the agency’s profile by connecting it to the community at large with exterior signage, an important step in breaking down barriers and helping to demystify and destigmatize the agency’s work and those living with HIV/AIDS.

Time spent in the art therapy classes was not only therapeutic for Barros; it became a lifeline. There were times when you’d have thought I lived in the studio,” he said, describing it as an oasis.” 

At times Barros painted with a supervised cohort of APNH clients in an atmosphere of trust and camaraderie. Driven by his need to create, Barros also worked alone. Each class, each canvas, became an opportunity to control and shape the order that was eluding him in life beyond the studio. I’m OCD — I like things in order,” he explained.

Over the past five years, Barros has created well over 100 works, which he described as representational abstraction.” In keeping with the therapeutic program, these works are as much visual recordings of his state of mind at the time of creation as they are creative explorations and artistic expressions. Stylistic application and organization of materials also reflect his concern with order, structure, and balance.

Asymmetrical composition using Tape and cardboard on canvas.

Found objects and materials often figure into compositions as symbolic or literal aspects of a narrative executed with architectural, Mondrianesque precision…

… or the primitive mark-making of an outsider artist …

Marker on wood.

… or they combine with handwritten text, reflecting Barros’s interest in writing and storytelling.

Rolling up his shirt sleeve at the Grove Gallery, Barros displayed his colorful, new dual-lumen catheters that dangled from his arm, indicators of the chemotherapy he was supposed to be be starting, but which has now been postponed because of complications. My new fashion statement” he quipped, even as the yellow-tinged orbs of his eyes betrayed the war raging in his body, the build-up of bile in his system, and developing liver issues — signs that the battle is not going well.

Settling into a comfortable armchair alongside Barros was Elinor Slomba, co-curator of his upcoming exhibit. Barros and Slomba contemplated the placement of the art that will soon be displayed in the freshly renovated coworking areas, launching Grove Gallery’s 2015 – 2016 season. A collaboration between the Grove’s Director of Culture, Christina Kane, and Arts Interstices, an agency founded by Slomba, was begun in Fall 2013. The collaboration has yielded nine exhibitions to date that have fueled workplace inspiration and helped to visualize changing organizational paradigms,” according to Slomba.

For Barros, the opportunity to exhibit his work, especially at such a challenging time, is part of a personal mission. If my journey can touch even one person and help them see things differently, regardless of what happens to me in the long run, it has all been worth it,” he said.

The exhibit, entitled Lifelines: Share the Journey, opens on July 24, at 6:00 p.m. with an artist’s reception at Grove Gallery, 760 Chapel St.. The exhibit can be seen during the Grove’s regular business hours (Monday – Friday, 9 – 5) through Sept. 4.

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