Naked truth: Cork artist David Barrett on his exhibition of nude paintings

David Barrett's exhibition at the Quay Co-op is mostly comprised of nudes 

Cork artist David Barrett currently has an exhibition at the Quay Co-op. 

David Barrett’s new exhibition of paintings at the Another Place gallery at the Quay Co-op in Cork is called Apologies, and mostly features nudes. Despite the title, Barrett’s interest is unlikely to ever cause him regret.

“I initially started painting the human figure as a kind of reaction to the Catholic upbringing I had in the 1980s,” he says. “What Fintan O'Toole called ‘the hysterical hatred of the human body’ was prevalent in Ireland at that time. But I was an altar boy and I went to a religious school, and all the wonderful figurative painting I saw growing up was religious. I loved the Baroque nature of that style of painting; the tonalities, and the richness of the colours.”