Slipping quietly under the radar in the wake of his impressive exhibition in London back in July, Barry McGee unveiled another new body of work just a short distance away from the UK this past weekend. Perhaps making up for lost time abroad, Workshop Arte Contemporanea this time plays host in Venice, Italy, where a wide range of Barry’s signature “clusters” are on display. Constructed of acrylic-painted panels and incorporating geometric patterns, typography, portraiture, the odd household cleaner (ie. Clorox), as well as some composed of old photographs of Barry – as alias TWIST – and his THR graffiti crew during their youthful glory days bombing the streets, the unique clusters combine his myriad inspirations – ranging from comics and folk art to signage and graffiti – into dramatic assemblages in shape and scale.
With bright colors and clean lines, the San Francisco-based street artist marries a bit of his old stylings with some of the newer compositions experimented with during his most recent solo shows. This strong encore exhibition across the Atlantic runs through Friday, October 14th, and might be one of the last opportunities to view McGee’s work in the flesh until his highly anticipated career retrospective next September at the Berkeley Art Museum (BAM/PFA).
For those not local, check out a collection of installation shots and opening photos after the jump.
Discuss Barry McGee here.
