Barry McGee

Untitled (Hand-finished)

€3,500

Artwork

Edition of 78

Hand-finished

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Hand-finished, 28-layer silkscreens from a Bay Area legend.

Our first collaboration with Barry McGee is a greatest hits style montage of his life in San Francisco. From disgruntled looking Everyman heads – an allegory for the city’s ‘invisible’ homeless population – to acronyms for the graffiti crews he tags with, the untitled print rewards those familiar with the artist's expansive and experimental practice. Abstract geometries fill the gaps, providing “areas to rest the eye” and loading the print with McGee's distinct aesthetic code.

Once printed, McGee will add unique details to each print with spray paint and gouache. Illustrative additions introduce familiar faces from his esoteric library of references and symbols, while unplanned dots and lines in grey nod to the graffiti he still sprays today. Testing the process at Brothers Marshall in Malibu, faces, animals and acronyms were added to the right hand side of the print. For the edition itself, expect more of the same and (knowing Barry) a few surprises too.

“I will be interacting with each print in a different way. I try to keep that element of unpredictability when composing work.”

The underlying artworks – 14 colour silkscreens printed in 28 sharp-edged layers – have been created in close collaboration with expert printmakers at Make-Ready in London.

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Behind the scenes

Barry McGee walking away from a wall – the image is partially-obscured by 4 sky blue circles

Barry McGee3 collaborationsBarry McGee has lived in San Francisco his whole life. He's travelled across the world to exhibit at prestigious galleries and museums but still finds inspiration in the unexpected beauty of his home. His journey to becoming an artist started back in the 1980s. "We were on the fringe," says McGee, talking about the friends he used to do graffiti with as a teenager. "It's the outcasts, all of the straggly kids that figure out how to work the system." After finishing art school in 1991, Barry became a key member of the Mission School. The group's low-fi aesthetic drew from the grittiness and beauty of city life. "It's kind of dirty, kind of broken," says McGee. "It's basically the whole mess of it that makes it work."

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Reviews from Avant collectors

I am so happy with my purchase, and really all the work that Avant Art is doing to connect real people with artists. thank you!
Review of Inner Love
this is a. very good way to make great artisrs’ work affordable. well done
Review of Women Without Men #2, 2009
Beautifully printed piece. Nice touch on the bag and gloves. Thank you for your efficiency and timely updates.
Review of Actual Size
I think the experience has been brilliant from start to finish
Review of HOPE (251-375)
love my piece and thank you for the communication and guidance regarding shipping documents
Review of Sandman
The piece looks great and the frame is perfect. Thank you!
Review of Actual Size
the print is amazing. cant wait to frame and hang.
Review of Rainbow Bridge
The highest quality and most innovative print I've ever seen. Amazing!
Review of Portrait of Francis Bacon

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