Over the course of a career spanning three decades, Barry McGee has consistently produced artworks and exhibitions that defy categorization. In exhibitions brimming with ceramic sculptures, found objects, handmade furniture, and drawings, McGeeʼs multi-paneled paintings stand out among his best known works; wooden panels of varying scale, each laden with elements of illustration, hand-painted signage, geometric abstraction, or other disparate visual styles, combine to form complex, unified artworks.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Barry McGee studied at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) graduating in 1991. During this time, he was a part of the loose knit group of artists, making artwork in the streets and public spaces of San Francisco. This group, which later became known as “The Mission School,” drew on the visual language they encountered across the city. Sign painting, folk art, public murals and early graffiti all became a source of inspiration which they incorporated into their own unique artistic practices.

Since then, McGeeʼs artistic output has grown increasingly more diverse and is constantly evolving. Through incremental changes, and occasionally momentous gestures̶as in his installations featuring overturned vehicles or surfboards stacked floor-to-ceiling-McGee has built a singular and eclectic visual language, garnering the attention and adoration of an audience that extends far beyond the realm of contemporary art.

For this contribution at the Aichi Triennale 2022, McGee worked across two sites, one mural across from Ichinomiya City Hall and two small storage huts in the middle Omiya Park. Both sites display his arresting geometric patterns, inventive typography, and iconic faces rendered in flawless brushstrokes.

McGeeʼs work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at museums and institutions including Fondazione Prada, Milan; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; and the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, California. His works are part of public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the UC Berkeley Museum of Art and Pacific Film Archive; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; New Art Gallery Walsall, United Kingdom; and Fondazione Prada, Venice.

Selected Works & Awards

2018

SB Mid Summer Intensive (solo), Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, USA

2017

Big Sky Little Moon, Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan

2013

Barry McGee (solo), The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, USA

2001

49th Venice Biennale, Italy

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• Untitled (Tsumugi Road), 2022
• Photo: ToLoLo studio

Exhibition