A retrospective of early works from the 1970s and new works from 2021-2025.

The Tobin Gallery is honored to present Who Is Augustus Barnett? : A landmark solo exhibition celebrating more than fifty years of abstraction, painting, and collage by Tacoma-born artist Augustus Barnett (b. 1951).

Barnett’s career began at a remarkably young age. Fresh out of high school, he opened the Sopwith Gallery in downtown Tacoma; an exhibition space showcasing paintings by Northwest artists. Barnett lived and created his own artwork in the back of the gallery during . These early years cemented his lifelong dedication to art, providing both a venue for Northwest artists and occasionally his own work.

His work carries an elegant duality. Compositions that seem suspended in time, yet rooted in form. Sometimes geological in nature. This could be seen as a balancing of open space through the use of shape, color, and tactile surface. Barnett’s pieces embody the stillness of motion and compression. And may invite viewers to reflect on collective memories under pressure from recent years.

Barnett has exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum Rental Gallery, Bumbershoot Festival, Tacoma Art Museum, and several other Pacific Northwest venues. This retrospective brings together early works alongside striking new compositions, many never before exhibited publicly or available to collectors, offering a rare opportunity to experience the evolution of an artist whose vision is both timeless and rooted in the region.

“Barnett’s abstractions remind us of the elegance in abstraction itself — work that is both enduring and contemporary,” says Rachel Lynch, Curatorial Director of The Tobin Gallery.