The tattoo and body modification subculture has become more and more recognized in the last decade, from reality TV shows to celebrities in the spotlight who don’t cover up their permanent body art. Shawn Barber celebrates tattoo culture through realistic portraits of tattooed artistic legends such as Kat Von D, Paul Booth, and Grime, with vibrant colors, multi-limbed compositions, and lush detail.
Shawn’s paintings are in a crisp, immediate, realist style, sometimes left with rough edges in places, or posted in an incomplete stage. His combination of precision detail with loose, explosive brush strokes is visually interesting. The thought of painting tattoos enters into an area of artists painting their interpretation of another artist’s work.
Barber also has another extensive series, started prior to the tattoo series, on the subject of baby doll heads. Most of these paintings are on a very large scale – many are around 5 feet high! Vanitas comprised of vintage or antique doll heads, skulls, wet specimens, and taxidermy animals are not uncommon in this group of paintings.
In addition to his fascinating personal artwork, Barber is also an accomplished illustrator, with clients that include The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Atlantic Records, The Washington Post and many others.
Among his extensive achievements as an artist, he has taught drawing, painting, and the business of art for over a decade at various art schools throughout the country. After years of documenting the art of tattoos, it was a logical progression to pick up the needle himself and add ‘tattoo artist’ to his resume. You can find Shawn at Memoir Tattoo in Los Angeles when he isn’t painting.
