Bob Barker
From Yesterday to Here | 2023

Featured art (L-R): 'Could Be A Keeper', £995; 'Hello You', £695 and 'Girl Talk, £595, by Bob Barker. Also available as a set of three, £1,995.

Could Be A Keeper

One of the things which gives Bob’s art such intimacy is that he draws so much from real life; his own experiences and from his family. In ‘Could Be A Keeper’, he used his granddaughter as the reference for the young woman in the painting.

“I liked the idea that the picture could mean two things,” explains Bob. “The girl could be looking at the boy as if he’s a keeper, or he could be looking at the van as if it’s a keeper! The viewer can have their own interpretation of the picture, and the personalisation makes it even more individual.

“Once again, the picture is me looking back nostalgically to when I was a kid; the van reminds me of the craze for CB radio and the song ‘Convoy’ from the late seventies!”

Hello You

‘Hello You’ continues the tradition of Bob’s popular duck artworks; in this piece we are introduced to a little boy meeting a duckling, both with their journeys ahead. “They’re very popular with fans and collectors, so this piece features a little boy and a duckling. There’s always a little bit of me in every painting, and this one reminds me of when I used to spend time with my grandma, and when it was just the two of us together, she’d say it was ‘just us ducks’, which was the inspiration for the ducks in the paintings”.

Girl Talk

“This is based on the Stereophonics song ‘Handbags and Gladrags’. I always had an image in my head from the song of my wife when we first met. She’d carry a wicker basket over her arm, walking down the road with all her friends in their finery, looking their best with their handbags and gladrags.

“I was brought up by my mum and grandma and had four aunties, and though I had elder brothers, I was usually the only lad surrounded by women and it’s often been like that all my life. I’ve got two granddaughters who are now at university, who have grown up with my paintings, and I still want to be involved with their conversations. Even now in the pub, where the bloke are talking about cars, I always gravitate to the girls’ side!”