Barry Mcgee

Barry McGee Mini-Documentary for the Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture Touring Exhibition - 2006

Barry McGee makes art that is meant to be seen on the street. Like the graffiti which embellishes run-down urban environments, these objects are often made and exhibited without permission of the property owners. The smoking overturned truck, is a form of public sculpture. From the outside, the abandoned vehicle calls attention to such issues as urban decay and civil warfare. The interior, with its collection of video monitors that flash and spin colorful signs and symbols, reminds us that art thrives in unlikely places. Barry McGee comes from a background of creating unsanctioned work on city streets in his native San Francisco. Signing his works with the tag Twist, the artist draws his force and inspiration from the contrast and tension that exists between the city center and the suburbs, between wealthy districts and the slums. McGees signature tags and markings have inserted an element of the individual and the handmade into a depersonalized urban landscape that has become increasingly crowded with corporate logos, trademarks and advertisements. His visual language is at the same time eclectic, ephemeral, radical and above all heavily influenced by the daily realities of the city. McGees complex installations convey a sense of vitality and chaos, juxtaposed with a precarious nature and sense of alienation. Large-scale wall murals, clusters of small framed drawings and snapshots, various tools and other street detritus make their way into his installations in an almost symphonic fashion. Intricate paintings are executed then rolled over with latex paint, echoing the buffs that cover graffiti in urban areas. Clusters of glass bottles hang in a corner with painted portraits of derelicts and other characterizations of street personalities. McGee has exhibited his works internationally including Deitch Projects, New York, UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Foundation Cartier, Paris, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Brandeis Universitys The Rose, the 2001 Venice Biennale, the 2002 Liverpool Biennial, the Meat Market in Melbourne, Australia, a collaborative project with Kaldor Art Projects and the National Gallery of Victoria and most recently at Museum Het Domein, the Netherlands. McGee currently lives and works in San Francisco, California.

More info: http://www.iconoclasteditions.com

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Beautiful Losers
• Contemporary Art
• Street Culture
• Graffiti
• Barry McGee
• Pushead
• Thomas Campbell

[dapimpkid13]

twist rules!!!!!!!

fuck pushead!

[TheLocallunatic]

twist is sick cool footage

[jasondcoi]

endorsment by pushead is cool in my book. I love art!!!

[intergalacticpurifyR]

i got mad love for barry, but for some really sick graff, see DAIM, MEAR, EWOK, POSE,....just look up MEAR toy eater, it will make you either want to work harder, or give up art. REALLY. sup' barry!!! i was there when you did the moscone center temp wall!!!

[baddanagebrain]

yes,he is master