Christina Fez-Barringten, Pop Art artist

Christina Fez-Barringten is a Pop Art artist and a writer. Her collages, acrylic paintings, and Plexiglas sculptures were part of the exciting visual arts movement that emerged in the mid 1950's in Britain and in the late 1950's in the United States. Pop-Art was one of the major art movements of the 20th century. It was characterized by “mass-cultural” themes and techniques drawn from popular materials and media such as plastics, magazine advertising, TV, pop-music, space-time relativity, and comic books. While Pop Art, like Pop Music, aimed to employ images of popular culture in art and emphasized the everyday elements of any given culture, Christina's work challenged the depressing “elitist” culture of the 1950's with her passion for harmony, grace and balance. She believed that all of these elements could work together. Furthermore, she believed that the “deconstructivism” of DaDa and Surrealism art of the time could be made popular by mixing them with the jargon of the world of fashion and cosmopolitan urbanism that the new generations understood. Christina's work might be called Existentialism today. This brave young woman turned her beliefs into reality. She broke Plexiglas into fragments and reassembled them into vibrant, colorful sculptures. Christina ripped apart fashion magazines of the early 1960's and gently placed them into compositions of personality, boldness, love, deep thought, and excitement.

Shortly before moving to New Haven to begin his studies, Barie was introduced to Christina Lefson. Christina lived at the International House. A home for graduate students on Riverside Drive. She studied fine arts at Columbia University Howard Cook, then, the president of the International House, graciously arranged for Christina to have a large art studio in the same building, where she could work and develop her new kind of sculptures.

Her medium was plexiglass, which had never been used in fine art sculptures.

David Rockefeller, commissioned her work to be exhibited at the Chase Manhattan bank. Other exhibitions followed. The Frank Lawrence Gallery at East 57 Street and Park Ave. Showed and represented her abstract sculptures; which, thanks to her medium, and , her artistry, are not like conventional sculptures where volume is inserted into space which surrounds them. Rather, they have become part of space as air, color and light play through it.

Christina was born in Leipzig, Germany. 1956 she came to New York to study philosophy. But when she discovered the powerful and inspiring movement of modern art in New York City, and , learned to know Andy Warhol. Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstine, and, others. She decided to use her artistic talent and, changed her goals to study fine art at both the Art Students League and School of Visual Arts.

Shortly before she intended to return to Germany, Christina was introduced to Paul Lefson by Max Waldman, a theatrical photographer (Well known for his book "Waldman on Theater", and his photos in Life Magazine). Paul and Christina got married in 1958 and lived on East 31 Street in Manhattan. Sadly, Paul Lefson died accidentally while on business in Chicago early in 1963.

To overcome the devastating loss, Christina turned to her art more than ever. She now studied sculpture at Columbia University under Professor Peter Augustini. In that period Christina learned to know Barie Fez-Barringten.

Barie and Christina married in 1966 in New Haven, while Barie studied at Yale University, under Paul Rudolf, Charles Moore, Vincent Scully and others. 1967 Barie originated the theory of:"Architecture the Making of Metaphors". At that time Barie conducted a lecture series at Yale University with Robert Venturi, John Cage, Paul Weiss, Christpoher Tunnard, and others. This event is partially published in "Main Currents of Modern Thought".

After the completion of Barie's studies in February of 1968, the couple moved for a short while, (To escape the cold of winter.) to Puerto Rico. Barie was appointment junior partner of Schimmelpfennig, Ruiz and Gonzales and designed buildings for Ron Rico and El Mundo.

In Puerto Rico Christina developed a series of original and exciting collages. She was inspired by the most elaborate, rich and opulent editions of the 1960's - Harper's Bazaar and Vogue Magazines. These collages are excellent posters and are now shown for the first time on the internet.

Back in New York, in order for Barie, now, a licensed architect to do his work, and Christina to have space for her sculptures, the couple moved in to a large loft on East 68 Street. Barie taught architecture at Pratt Institute. And, when Barie accepted the challenge of Mayor Lindsey to bring the first ""Earth Day" to New York City, he encouraged his students to build the stage for that event. Paul Newman and people from Sesame Street, Aly Mcgraugh and others furnished the educational entertainment. The following year John Mc Connel enlisted Barie's assistance to again stage the Earth Day event in Central Park and to get the General Secretary of the United Nations, U Thant, to proclaim Earth Day as an international holiday (March 21).

In addition, Barie founded a New York not-for-profit corporation: "Laboratories for Metaphoric Environments". With one of its goals to provide under privileged children a glimpse of the creative excitement of the building industry. From cabinet work , to carpentry and design. There in order to illustrate his teaching he produced a series of words-drawings. Now in the hands of several collectors.

In 1973 Barie accepted the challenge to develop two vacation resorts in Tennessee; Sugar Tree and English Mountain. And, in addition he designed homes for a development in Belmopan, Belize, British Honduras.

Also, Barie the artist, developed a series of brilliantly envisioned drawings of futuristic metaphors, which he exhibitioned in conjunction with Christina's plexiglass sculpture, at the Jonathan Gallery in Jackson, and in Memphis, Tennessee.

Later, he was recruited by the "Gulf Oil Real Estate Development Company" to be its lead project manager for a new computer building and other new structures in Texas. Because of that the couple had moved to Houston. Also, Barie, always interested to inspire young people in his profession, taught part-time at the University of Houston; and, later, fulltime, as associate professor at college station's Texas A&M University. Professor Fez-Barringten student's benefited by his friendship with the astronaut Joe Allen. Together they looked way into the future and designed space stations furniture and other imagined designed necessities.

By 1981 the Fez-Barringten's moved from Texas to Saudi Arabia where Barie trained Saudi Arabian students to work in architecture department of The Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO).

After moving to Ryadh, Barie got busy and designed 21 new towns for the people of Saudi Arabia. He also designed sport stadiums, office buildings and other building types.

In Ryadh Christina developed, out of necessity a new style of pattern-like paintings. For in this Muslim country objects can not be portrayed through art. 1986, Christina gave a major exhibition of her acrylic paintings sponsored by the American Ambassador in Saudi Arabia. In addition she taught and was the judge of important art events, especially during the five years when Barie was Professor of Architecture at King Faisal University, located in Dammam on the Gulf of Arabia. Professor Barie Fez-Barringten's articles of metaphors, written during that time, are published in learned journals in the USA, Middle East and Europe.

1999 the Fez Barringtens left Saudi Arabia.

Find out more at www.BarieFez-Barringten.com