Mark Barrow (b. 1982) and Sarah Parke (b. 1981) met while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design. They began collaborating in 2008, when Parke first started weaving fabric on which Barrow would paint. As weaving became the primary conceptual structure through which they approached all subjects, they adopted a joint artistic moniker to more accurately reflect how ideas are generated and spread. Their work focuses on the intersection of weaving (as a spatial and mathematical system) with other visual systems. It also focuses on its intersection with textiles more generally, a tradition that has had an outsized imprint on the history and development of culture and civilization.
Barrow Parke live and work in New York City. Barrow holds a B.F.A. in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and an M.F.A. in Painting from the Yale School of Art. Parke holds a B.F.A. in Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design. They have exhibited widely in institutions including the University Art Museum, University at Albany, the Shirley Fiterman Art Center, City University of New York, New York; The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; the Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China; Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany; and Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France. Their work is represented in public collections including Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama; the Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, California; Yale Museum, New Haven, Connecticut; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; the University of Chicago, Illinois; and Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio.