Episode #186: Filmed in 2012, artist Barry McGee discusses the work of his friends, family and a younger generation of street artists that he included in his retrospective exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Though these artists are not as famous as McGee, their work is displayed with equal prominence. This democratic approach to making and displaying art is a defining characteristic of McGee's street and studio practices. McGee's self-titled retrospective exhibition traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston in 2013.

A cult figure amongst skaters and graffiti artists, Barry McGee takes inspiration from contemporary urban culture, incorporating elements such as empty liquor bottles and spray-paint cans, tagged signs, wrenches, and scrap wood or metal into drawings, paintings, and mixed-media installations. McGee is also a graffiti artist, known by the tag "Twist."

Learn more about the artist at:
http://www.art21.org/artists/barry-mcgee

CREDITS: Producer: Ian Forster. Consulting Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Bob Elfstrom. Camera: Bob Elfstrom. Sound: Doug Dunderdale. Editor: Morgan Riles. Artwork Courtesy: Barry McGee. Special Thanks: UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Theme Music: Peter Foley.

"Barry McGee" at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA)
August 24--December 9, 2012
http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibition/mcgee

"Barry McGee" at the ICA Boston
April 6--September 2, 2013
http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/BarryMcGee/