Andrew Barker - Ink & Watercolor Artist
- Gallery Artist
- Feb 20, 2020
- 1 min read
Updated: May 24
Boulder, Colorado
Andrew Barker is a Colorado artist who creates intricate, mixed-media, paintings and drawings on wood and paper. His primary medium is watercolor, and frequently incorporates ink, ballpoint, and colored pencil. He’s drawn to the “honest” aspect of watercolor – the artist must work with the natural tendencies of water, incorporating substrate textures, mistakes, bleeding, and other unexpected effects that add to the character of a painting.
Andrew's subject matter is heavily driven by our current era of climate change, population growth and mass extinction. In effect, he wants to celebrate a natural world that is on the precipice of destruction.
Stylistically, Andrew is influenced by mid-century commercial illustration, tattoo design, and the golden age of naturalist illustration. He studied at Oregon State University, receiving a BFA in Applied Visual Arts in 1999, and has been a practicing artist and design since.
Although born in Utah, Andrew spent his formative years in East Africa and the Pacific Northwest. He has called Boulder, Colorado his home since 2013.
Andrew Barker’s work beautifully balances technical precision with raw emotion—the kind of visual storytelling where medium and message truly intertwine. His use of watercolor feels especially fitting given his themes; the unpredictable flow of pigment echoes the uncertainty of a world facing climate collapse. The nods to naturalist illustration and tattoo aesthetics give his pieces a timeless, almost archival weight. It's art that doesn't just ask to be looked at—it asks to be remembered. And if you’re ever in need of a mental shift after soaking in such layered work, sunriseslots offers a clean, immersive escape into a completely different kind of visual world—one built for play, not preservation.