CODY BARBER | AL’S OFFICE

February 8 - March 13, 2026

VIEW EXHIBITION

Having studied journalism, my favorite part of conducting an interview was scoping out the chairs in a room. A young scavenger, hungry for visual excitement in the flatlands/panhandle of Texas, I liked looking for chairs more than I did writing. The chairs that excited me the most were see-through and made of wire mesh. I started collecting those chairs, which were typically in bad shape. I learned the best way to re-treat them was with powder coating.

The six sculptures I made for Sue (using wire mesh) are a direct result of chair maintenance. The works have parts that I need to assemble. I think of legs and feet. The graphic moiré patterns they exhibit are visually exciting; spirited backrests. The powder coating, which I learned first for the chairs, is now the method I use to paint all of my art. What happens with color when I layer the mesh is something new that I continue to comprehend and observe – none of which occurs while sitting. Please hang the art at your own standing eye level.

Born in Lubbock, TX (1986) and now based in Marfa, Cody Barber has spent the last two decades turning curiosity into color. After studying mass communications at Texas Tech, Cody began experimenting with powder coating under the guidance of friend and mentor Jonathan Shelby. Cody has had solo exhibitions in Mexico City at Fenomena, the Texas Tech School of Architecture, and has taken on large-scale architectural powder coating projects in the Big Bend region. Recently, Cody debuted “Moiré Work” at the Wrong Gallery in Marfa.