Shawn Barber

Shawn Barber Biography Shawn Barber's body of work focuses primarily on painting, portraiture, and documenting contemporary tattoo culture. Barber's intimate renditions of tattooed individuals balance both meticulous brush strokes and loose energy. Figurative in nature, these large paintings take on abstractions with explosive colors, meandering lines and paint dripping down the canvas.

A from Ringling College of Art in 1999 and has paintings held in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe and Australia. His paintings have been exhibited in diverse solo and group venues including: The Joshua Liner Gallery, NYC, NY; Billy Shire Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA; The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ; University of Houston, Houston, TX. His first published book of art titled 'Tattooed Portraits' was published by 9mm Books in 2006, followed by his second tome, 'Forever and Ever', a 256 page hardcover book dedicated to the Tattooed Portraits Series.

Shawn is currently working on a third book in the Tattooed Portraits Series with Last Gasp Books, to be released in July 2012. Among his extensive achievements, he has taught drawing, painting and the business of art for 10 years at various art schools throughout the country. After years of documenting the art of tattoo, it was a logical progression to pick up the tattoo machine and add tattooist to his resume.

In 2009, Shawn and his girlfriend Kim Saigh opened Memoir Tattoo in Los Angeles, CA.