Barry Allikas was born in Montreal in 1952, where he still lives and works today. Recognized as one of Canada's leading exponents of post-painting abstraction, he began studying film at Dawson College in Montreal in 1973, before embarking on a self-taught career as a painter. Since his first solo show in 1979 at Galerie 08 in Montreal, his work has been exhibited in New York, Ottawa, Toronto, Germany, France and Mexico. Like the Plasticiens, the artist executes compositions that push the limits of hard-edge geometric abstraction. Allikas has taken part in two residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts (1983 and 1985) and has received several grants and bursaries from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts. His work can be found in many major public and private collections, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the National Bank of Canada, Hydro-Québec, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, TD Canada Trust and others.
