Joseph Anthony
Barbetta is regarded as one of the more versatile painters in
Born in
After graduating high
school, he joined the navy and upon his discharge went to Hollywood
to try his hand in acting.
Within a year he
decided that he preferred art although he belonged to a local theatre
group for some years.
He liked to
experiment, and he always preferred going his own way. so being self
taught was a decided advantage for him, because the self-taught artist has
no teachers to emulate and must look within himself for inspiration.
And look within
himself he did. he set down on paper, not only the seemingly endless
fantasies of his subconscious, but the ironies of life he observed daily
as well. He was fascinated by life's constant twists and turns, its
paradoxes, and mysteries which he frequently viewed with a whimsical eye,
and these he recorded in hundreds upon hundreds of sketches.
Although his
dedication to fantasy never changed, the manner in which he represented his visions
did however, and they vary from sketch to sketch, painting-to painting,
and period-to period.
This website represents some of the diverse styles of Barbetta's
work. Each style is not a "period" per say, because he goes back
and forth style-to-style depending upon his mood or a particular
project in which he is involved.
Many of his works are surrealist in style with cubist spatial effects,
rich in psychological meanings, often sensual and some times sexual -
figures growing and shrinking in prismatically fractured space,
exhibiting womb-like apertures with strange, unusual, and beautiful faces.
The imagery, dream-like with its haunting symbolism and mysterious
content, glows with sometimes vibrant, sometimes subdued, but always with magical,
light filled color.
Original
8'x12' painting "The Astronaut"
Commissioned
painting "Tribute" 7' diameter
"Tribute"
was unveiled May 20,1986 in memory of fallen challenger astronauts
"Tribute", an original painting by Joseph A. Barbetta,
commissioned by Cali associates (now Mack-Cali) to commemorate the
fallen challenger astronauts, hangs in the lobby adjacent to a 4 story
atrium at 280 Corporate Center, a new 150,000 square foot office building
on Eisenhower parkway in Roseland, New Jersey.
John J. Cali (on the left) says that the concept of dedicating this
painting to the challenger astronauts resulted from a conversation he had
several months ago with Mr. Barbetta.
On a social visit to Mr. Barbetta's apartment in Verona, NJ, Mr. Cali
remarked that the artist's earlier panting, "The Astronaut," an
8'x12' work created in 1979, which hangs in the living room, struck a new
chord in light of the challenger tragedy in January 1986. He suggested
that the artist create a new version of the painting to be placed on
permanent exhibition in one of his company's office buildings.
The result of the conversation was the decision to paint a new version of
"The Astronaut," but with a change the hands descending, rather
than upright, as in the original.
Although the original "Astronaut" was conceived as a fantasy,
"Tribute," in addition to its commemoration of the challenger
astronauts, was intended to have a special meaning to wish all astronauts
everywhere a safe voyage in future flights.
Mr.Cali is now Chairman Emeritus of Mack-Cali Associates, a
developmental company with more that 400 office buildings throughout the
United States.
Painting in oil and acrylics, he turned to hand-pulled lithos in the
seventies and produced six limited editions based upon some of his early
works which can be seen on this website.
In the late eighties, he entered into a joint venture with McGraw-hill to
create a series of paintings to be published as a fine art prints for
distribution by several of their business journals.
Below is a photo of Mr. Barbetta's studio which is almost 1000 square feet
and features large windows as well as an 18' ceiling.
In addition to prints and paintings shown herein Barbetta is available to accept any type of commissioned painting please call 973-615-3268.