Bohuslav Barlow 1947 -
Painter, born in Czechoslovakia who, having been displaced in the Second World War, moved to England aged eight.
Having grown up in abject poverty in the north of post-war England he took to painting, and after studying for his honours degree at the Central School of Art in London, he eventually settled in Todmorden, on the boundary between Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Barlow’s allegorical pictures are haunting, unsettling, enigmatic and mystifying, and as the interview illustrates, are heavily influenced by the trauma of his youth. Using puppets, mythology, dark brooding landscapes and allegorical imagery he creates a world that is strangely unsettling and yet somehow comforting. His later work moves on to show great sensitivity, beauty, technical excellence, and showcases the full breadth of his talents. The world his works inhabit are generally representative of the stony architecture of the Pennines.
In 2008 Bohuslav gave an extensive and hauntingly candid interview about his life, work, childhood traumas and subsequent redemption through art. You can listen to and view the full interview Here