The Art of Nunzio Barbera II

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Nunzio “NunZ” Barbera II is a Neo-urban Surrealist artist who hails from west Virginia. He attended West Virginia University and majored in Printmaking (Lithography.) He then attended Shepherd University, also in West Virginia and studied painting. Some of his influences are Salvador Dali, Winston Smith, Dr. Seuss, Comic Books, Punk Rock, Skateboards, Street Art and life in general. Nunz’s current medium of choice is collage. His collage work is very unique, he throws images of his own in with found clippings and then hits it all with a vast array of mediums. It is very difficult to tell sometimes which images are his or others. He is known to be provocative, offensive and somewhat outspoken, this probably stems from his punk rock attitude towards art and life in general.
He had his first solo show in October 2010 at The West Shore Gallery in Wormleysburg, Pa. His work has been featured in Kikked, Innovated, Delirio-Revista, Catapult Magazine, FIREMASS and DY magazine. His body of work only really spans over the past two years. The loss of his younger brother, Joseph Albert Barbera (friends knew him as Peppy), is what inspired him to create art again. You can expect big things from this WV “hillbilly”, make sure to keep your eyes out for him.


"Beyond the Mind's Eye" 30 x 20 in on foam board.

"Monkey Business" 28 x 22 in

"Peace Sells?" 30 x 20 in on foam board sold
"Ziaism"
Have you ever eaten a really rich dessert on top of a couple drinks and then gone to bed only to toss and turn and imagine yourself running endlessly and helplessly from some terrible menacing shadowy entity that never quite catches you but is always right behind you? Such is the collage work of Keyser, West Virginia'sNunzio Barbera --- depicting the over-analyzed depths of a Freudian nightmare. Each work is a cohesive melange of horror, science fiction and popular culture merged into a representation of more messages than you can find on a teenager's iPhone.

"What the hell is he saying?" will be the first thought in your mind, followed by a careful study of the images within the other images. Joe Pesci once said in the move JFK, "It is a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma." This perfectly describes Nunzio's work. It is "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" meets "Creep Show" and "Mad" magazine. Nunzio combines irreligious, brash, funny, creepy hand-drawn elements and clippings from magazines of all eras, layering them by hand (not Photoshop, people!) onto a variety of materials. The result is pop art entertainment at its finest.


"Found" 14.5 x 27 in acrylic on wood panel 2011

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