He didn’t paint every day, had an irregular sleep sched-
ule and watched his savings diminish. He wasn’t ready to
call it a mistake, but he knew he wasn’t prepared to be a
full-time artist.
While trying to make it work on his art alone, Barri-
ento attended an art gallery opening in LaGrange when
somebody pointed out a woman who owns two art gal-
leries in Greenville.
That woman ended up being Linda Wilburn, owner
of Artisans on the Square and The Print Shop Gallery in
downtown Greenville. He introduced himself and gave
her a brochure and talked about some of his art being in
her gallery.
He said he convinced her to let him hang a few paint-
ings, but she was unsure because he didn’t sell much
abstract art. A week later, he said she asked him to work
for him. It didn’t take him long to accept the job offer.
He was hired initially to be a receptionist, but because
he knew how to use online software like Wordpress, how
to build websites and knew marketing tools, he was pro-
moted to manager. Barriento said that learning new skills
has never been a detriment to his life.
“Learn something new,” he said. “Because that is going
to help you in the next phase of your life.”
That was almost three years ago in April 2017, and
now, he’s working with Wilburn to make Greenville a city
where people go to see art.
“She’s making a huge physical and financial investment
for it to happen,” Barriento said. “So, I took it as my job
to make it happen through marketing and to websites,
networking, word of mouth to make that dream come
true. So, now I want people to come to Greenville for the
arts because of the person that I work for.”
As for his work, Barriento says he works in big creative
bursts, and usually, he needs a deadline to motivate him.
For example, when he had the opportunity in October
2017 to have his own show, he created 15 paintings in a
month to get ready.
For another show, he created 40 pieces of art in five
months.
In April, he said he’s been invited to have a solo show at
Lamar Arts in Barnesville.
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