Barry McGee

Biography

American, b. 1966, San Francisco, California, based in San Francisco, California

A revered figure in the West Coast graffiti subculture (typically associated with the skater and surfer communities), Barry McGee makes drawings, paintings, and mixed-media installations inspired by urban culture that incorporate elements such as empty liquor bottles and spray-paint cans, tagged signs, wrenches, and scrap wood or metal. McGee is also a graffiti artist, having produced work on the streets since the 1980s under the tag name “Twist”; his signature motif is the face of a man with sagging, tired eyes, rendered in an efficient linear style. McGee was interviewed on the rooftop of The Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco on May 25, 2005.