“The sunsets are painted mostly from my memories of being back in the Caribbean and Grenada. I spent much of my time in Grenada watching the sun rise and the sun set reflecting on being between several shores and thinking about what my mother’s land meant for me. I returned to London and continued painting the sunset paintings and realised to paint sunrises I needed to paint land. In these paintings the colored frame made of corrugated metal and wood is the land. Turner painted the ocean and skies during a time when the UK was an industrial power. Rothko painted the American landscape inspired by the black jazz musicians and the Hudson school of American landscape painters. It felt important to paint a landless evening sky, one that spoke to me as an immigrant. The sunsets felt like a metaphor I could paint over and over again at an age that now we collectively are looking back on, as we think not only of the past but also the future. The sunrise always has the sky with the sun and clouds, the water and the land. It is about being given another day. The light of the sun moves along the water and touches the land. I understood the land in my body in a material way.”

ABOUT ARTISTS : Alvaro Barrington

---

Art Basel Qatar is Art Basel's fifth premier event and our newest show, running February 5-7, 2026 in Doha. Anchored in a dynamic long-term partnership with Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) and QC+, Art Basel Qatar will debut as a concisely curated showcase celebrating Qatar’s vibrant cultural landscape and the dynamic arts ecosystem of the MENA region. The inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar will be held at M7, a creative hub in the heart of Doha, as well as at the Doha Design District in downtown Msheireb.

mpefm QATAR fair art press release