SHAWN BARBER ~ THE NEW YORK EXPERIENCE

Friday, 27 July 2007 23:24

New York City - Invisible NYC is proud to host, The New York Experience, an exhibit of new paintings by Shawn Barber and the next installment in his Tattoo Portraits series. Originally from central New York, currently Mr. Barber is a painter living and working in San Francisco. For the past seven years, he has also been a college professor, currently teaching for the Illustration Department at CCA in San Francisco.

Mr. Barber's paintings have been exhibited in diverse solo and group venues including: The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA; The Lineage Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Strychnin Gallery, Berlin, Germany; South Florida Art Center, Miami, FL; and Arcadia Fine arts, NY, NY. His work is also included in the collections of Robin Williams, Mat Hoffman, Van Morrison, Christian Slater and “Rolling Stone” magazine's founder Jan Wenner among others.

Mr. Barber’s Tattooed Portraits was published by 9mm Books in March of 2006. A new book, “Forever and Ever”, is a complete catalog and overview of his entire Tattooed Portraits Series, and will be released in November 2007. Additionally, Shawn is in the midst of a tattoo apprenticeship with Mike Davis of Everlasting Tattoo in San Francisco, CA.

The Tattooed Portraits series is an analysis, documentation and celebration of artists with tattoos, tattoo artists, tattooed art, and tattooist's materials. The artists portrayed in the series are pioneers in contemporary art history.

For his exhibit at Invisible NYC, The New York Experience, Mr. Barber focuses on painting twenty-three of New York City's most accomplished tattoo artists, specifically focusing on their primary tools of the trade - their hands.

Mr. Barber’s gestural, loose approach to the application of the paint and the rendering of the subject gives a unique, contemporary vibrancy and movement to his portraits. He combines multiple perspectives of the visually electric tattooed arms and hands, alluding to the fact that a tattooist’s hands – and hands in general - are not static subjects. His approach to painting is much the same as the approach to tattooing in that movement is integral to the final product as well as to how the work is first conceived. Although his paintings present a fresh take on the tradition of portraiture, they also reference that fact that tattoos are bold, moving works of art.

Invisible NYC is truly proud to host an exhibit addressing the impact and importance of tattooing on contemporary art and culture.

The exhibit will run from August 10^th – September ^8th, Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 8:00 PM. Visit Invisible NYC - 148 Orchard Street NYC 10002 - 212.228.1358 : www.INVISIBLENYC.com or www.troydenningtattoo.com