A lauded and much-respected
cult figure in a bi-coastal subculture that comprises skaters, graffiti
artists, and West Coast surfers, Barry McGee was born in 1966 in
California, where he continues to live and work. In 1991 he received
a BFA in painting and printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute.
His drawings, paintings, and mixed-media installations take their
inspiration from contemporary urban culture, incorporating elements
such as empty liquor bottles and spray-paint cans, tagged signs,
wrenches, and scrap wood or metal. McGee is also a graffiti artist,
working on the streets of America’s cities since the 1980s,
where he is known by the tag name “Twist.” He views graffiti
as a vital method of communication, one that keeps him in touch
with a larger, more diverse audience than can be reached through
the traditional spaces of a gallery or museum. His trademark icon,
a caricatured male figure with sagging eyes and a bemused expression,
recalls the homeless people and transients who call the streets
their home. “Compelling art to me is a name carved into a tree,”
says McGee. His work has been shown at the Walker Art Center in
Minneapolis, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the UCLA/Armand
Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and on streets and trains all over
the United States. He and his daughter, Asha, live in San Francisco.
For additional biographic & bibliographic information:
Deitch Projects, New York | Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco |
