Barry McGee: Tagging | "Exclusive" | Art21

Episode #177: Filmed in 2012, this "Exclusive" follows artist Barry McGee through his self-titled retrospective exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA). McGee, who became interested in tagging while growing up in San Francisco, describes the excitement of putting up new tags and the rush of getting away with it. Alongside his ongoing and intimate involvement with street culture, McGee has maintained an active studio practice, which he describes as being something "completely different." These two disparate ways of making—and showing—work meet in "Barry McGee," which was also shown at the ICA Boston.

A cult figure amongst skaters and graffiti artists, Barry McGee's drawings, paintings, and mixed-media installations take their inspiration from contemporary urban culture, incorporating elements such as empty liquor bottles and spray-paint cans, tagged signs, wrenches, and scrap wood or metal. 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. Archival Footage Courtesy: Videograf Productions. Archival Images Courtesy: Barry McGee. Special Thanks: UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

"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/

Lo que los niños hacen para tener su nombre en algo, que es todavía para mí fascinante.

Es tan fascinante como cuando era un chaval.

Hay una fuerte población que vive en las calles de San Francisco.

Casi cada vez que estas haciendo graffitis, estarías en contacto con otras personas.

que se mueven en el mismo tipo de zona, y, al igual que el momento de la noche.

A veces tienes que correr o dejarse pillar, y que estarías en unos arbustos,

y con otras personas ya allí en los arbustos.