Barry McGee, (AKA Twist) BFA 1991

Born 1966 San Francisco, CA

Not wanting to restrict himself to exterior walls, McGee paints on "found surfaces" of all kinds: old signs, empty liquor bottles, dilapidated books. In recent years, he has created a number of site-specific installations for arts organizations and galleries that set a different pace from his street work. The indoor installations afford him the luxury of time. The work takes on a less frenetic tone, but still has the edgy quality McGee strives towards. His goal is to capture the tension of urban life.

"I have always been fascinated by graffiti," says McGee, "viewing it mainly from trains, from my car or on a walking excursion into the city. The fact that I don't own urban property, or even live in the city, frees me to marvel at its bravura, vitality and ingenuity."

McGee has had solo exhibitions of his large scale, graffiti based drawing installations at The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Art & Design in Boston, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and at the Museum Lasar Segall in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In addition to his inclusion in The Drawing Center's Selections '96 exhibition, he has exhibited in group shows at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Jose Museum of Art and Holly Solomon Gallery in New York, among others. In 1997 he received a SECA award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and was a recipient of a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest International Artists Fellowship in 1993. He has created a number of public murals including a piece for San Francisco Arts Commission Art in Transit in San Francisco. He has lived in the Bay Area all of his life.

Commissions

2000-01
Stephen Powers, Todd James & Barry McGee: Street Market
Deitch Projects, New York
1998-99
Barry McGee: The Buddy System
Deitch Projects, New York
1997-98
Strange Days
Caren Golden Fine Art, New York
1992
Mural, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
SF Arts Commission: Art In Transit Program, San Francisco

Awards

2001
ArtCouncil Award to Individual Artist
1993
Lila Wallace, Readers Digest International Artist Program
Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhaker Foundation
1991
Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute
1990
Canson Paper Award
Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute
1989
Sobel Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute