SHAWN BARBER

Born 1970 in Cortland, New York, Shawn Barber currently lives and practices in Los Angeles, California. He has forged an international reputation over a number of years as a contemporary artist specialising in painting and portraiture with a particular focus on documenting tattoo culture.

Barber gained a Bachelor of Fine Art from Ringling College of Art in 1999, and has also played the role of teacher - lecturing in drawing, painting, and arts business practices at various art schools throughout the USA.

His work is defined by meticulous attention to detail, combined with expressive brushstrokes and a vibrant colour palette. Works such as the triptych Portrait of the Artist, Shige (Shigenori Iwasaki), 9 views are evidence of his mastery of the oil paint medium, and also penchant for creating large scale works.

With a strong catalogue of work investigating tattoo culture behind him, Barber added another string to his bow in 2006 by honing his skills with the tattoo machine, and in 2009 opened the Los Angeles tattoo parlour Memoir Tattoo with his partner Kim Saigh.

This was closely followed in 2012 by the release of his 256 page hard cover book, Memoir: The Tattooed Portraits Series Memoir contains full colour reproductions of works from Barber’s Tattooed Portraits series, which began in 2005 and includes paintings of Don Ed Hardy, Bob Roberts, Grime, Paul Booth, Marcus Pacheco, Kim Saigh, Jack Rudy, Thomas Woodruff, Aaron Cain, Mike Giant, Adrian Lee, Margaret Cho, Shige and Stanley Moskowitz.

As well as depicting such leading artists and figures in the tattoo world, Barber’s work explores the experience of tattooing and being tattooed, and the history of contemporary tattooing.

Tattooed Self Portrait at 39 [detail] 2010

Portrait of the Artist, Shige (Shigenori Iwasaki), 9 views 2010 - 2012

Oil on canvas

Triptych: 182.88 x 274.32 cm [182.88 x 91.44 cm each]

Courtesy of the Artist, Shawn Barber

Abstract Self Portrait 1 2010 - 2012

Oil on canvas

91.44 x 172.72 cm

Courtesy of the Artist, Shawn Barber