Untitled [Signature self-portrait]

Compared to the charcoal sketch nearby, this drawing, which is also a self-portrait of sorts, is far more typical of Barton’s style. It shows the artist signing his name backward on a café table; his regular habit of mirror writing may have stemmed from his admiration for Leonardo da Vinci, whose use of reverse handwriting is widely known. Using a consistently weighted line that borders at times on cartoonish, Barton captured the minutiae of his environment— the zipper on his jacket, a beer mug, a coffee cup, ashtrays, his cigarette pack and matches—from an unstable and shifting perspective.