Karma Barnes

Orogenies of the Sublime

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Italian Industrial Pigments, Northern Rivers Earth Pigments, Acrylic Paint, ink, Graphite on Sound Panels and Prepared Board, Mixed Dimensions, 2025

Karma Barnes (b.1979, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa–New Zealand) is an interdisciplinary artist based on Bundjalung Country, NSW, Australia. She is known for large-scale installations combining suspended paintings, sculptural forms, and participatory practices. Her work explores material memory, human perception, and the relationship between temporal and cognitive processes, revealing visual metaphors that underscore the fluidity and impermanence of physical and psychological experience. With exhibitions in Venice, Rome, and across Australia and the USA, Barnes is gaining international recognition. In 2024, the New Mexico State University Art Museum acquired several of her works, marking her first major institutional acquisition.