“Life is largely about an experience”

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My family is spread all over the place. My father lives in Boston, some of my other family lives in Brooklyn, my brother is in Dallas and I also have family in Jamaica. During the holidays I try to see as many people as possible, but now that everyone has moved it’s harder. It’s not like it was when we were younger and we were all in one place.

I usually see my parents and then go to different aunts’ houses. If everyone feels like it, we watch a movie, but now we don’t go to the cinema as often. All my brothers and sisters are older – I have a large blended family with seven siblings on my mother’s side and four on my father’s side – and they have children, so they do it at home.

Everyone cooks. One of my aunts always makes plantains. Otherwise there is food like mac and cheese, a Christmas ham, jerk chicken because my stepmother is Jamaican, and curry chicken from the Grenadian and Trinidadian side. We also make rice and peas. The food depends on which family I go to. At the end of the meal we also take a family photo. When we were kids I wore an Eddie Bauer or Old Navy Christmas sweater, but now we keep it more casual.

I like essentials like a great pair of socks, a great scarf and a great t-shirt

I still work during the holidays. I draw every day. I don’t think there’s a day where I’m not sketching or working through something. I try to set up my studio wherever I am. One tricky thing in the creative fields is that it’s not a nine-to-five. I know some writers and artists who treat it that way, but my mind doesn’t really work that way.

At this point in my life, art is largely about an experience. A lot of life revolves around an experience. It’s not just about products. I prefer to give away things like a stay at the Château Voltaire (in Paris), where I’m actually staying, or (a meal at) Rochelle Canteen (in London), where I’m actually having dinner.

As a child I collected sneakers. By the time I was 19, I had over a hundred pairs. But when I decided to become an artist, I stopped buying anything I didn’t need and only bought paints and art supplies. The desire to paint and make art was always more important than the amount of money I was willing to spend on anything else.

I try to buy clothes that I will wear all the time. I have friends whose work I’m a big fan of, like Martine Rose, Matthieu Blazy (creative director of Bottega Veneta) and Raf Simons. I have a salmon pink sweater from JW Anderson that is at least five years old. I wear it in the studio all the time. I like something I can work with; Essentials like a great pair of socks, a great scarf and a great t-shirt.

Christmas presents are really something for the children. If I think of something and it’s April, I’ll send it to you. Why wait?

Alvaro Barrington is a London-based multimedia artist best known for his paintings, although his work also includes installations and performances. In 2024 he received the annual commission from Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries.

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