Upcoming group shows

I will be in 3 upcoming group shows-


Private Opening January 20th in Los Angeles, CA
Exhibit A Gallery
Obey Your Master : Art Tribute to Metallica

Really excited to be a part of this show, a lot of great artists doing their take on a Metallica song.

www.exhibitagallery.com

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Opening Saturday, January 21st in San Francisco, CA

Seventh Son Tattoo
Year of the Dragon

An incredible line up of tattooists that specialize in dragons, and a slew of great artists are throwing down for this show. Not to be missed!

www.seventhsontattoo.com

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Opening January 26th in New York City

Joshua Liner Gallery
Resolve curated by Tony Curanaj
Joshua Liner Gallery is pleased to present Resolve, an exhibition of twenty-five emerging and established artists whose work is rooted in classical art traditions and training.

Tony has put together an amazing line up of figurative artists for this show. I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to show with these phenomenal artists.
You have to check it out if you are in New York!
This painting is by Tony Curanaj.

www.joshualinergallery.com

Still Life Painting Workshop this Sunday, January 8th at Memoir

Happy New Year!
It's been a while and I'm getting back to putting some workshop's together at Memoir.
The next painting workshop will be this Sunday, January 8th from 2pm-7pm.
We will be painting still life's from life.
If interested, please let me know.
sdbarber@gmail.com
As always, sorry for the short notice!
Thanks,
shawn


Shawn Barber Painting Workshop
"Oil Painting Still Life from Life"

In this 1 day, 5 Hour Painting Workshop, Shawn will demonstrate and walk you through creating a still life painting from life.
We will be working with a limited palette and painting a still life over a 5 hour period. The first hour we will focus on drawing, color mixing and laying down a solid foundation. Then we will work back into the paintings and work towards completion.
I will demonstrate process and go back and forth between active assistance and demonstration. This workshop includes discussion and demonstration on palette setup, medium choices, color mixing, constructing a drawing and painting the still life. Within the workshop, we will elaborate on the power of suggestion and 'building up' oil paint to a level of completion over a 5 hour period.
YOU WILL BRING IN YOUR OWN SMALL OBJECT TO PAINT, and we will set everything up, discussing lighting and composition. I do have small objects here for you to use- but painting your own makes it a little more personal.

La Luz de Jesus 25

La Luz de Jesus 25

Billy Shire celebrates 25 years with huge group show & book



Part 1 opens October 7 & 8, 8–11 PM

Part 2 opens November 4 & 5, 8–11 PM



To celebrate 25 years of groundbreaking art shows, Billy Shire presents his biggest event ever: La Luz de Jesus 25, a major retrospective exhibition and companion book. The show, offering work by more than 260 artists who have exhibited at the gallery over the years, is so extensive that Shire has split it into two parts, each with two opening nights: part 1 opens October 7 and 8, and part 2 opens November 4 and 5. The list of participating artists is a veritable Who’s Who of art world luminaries. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see all these artists together in one show.




View the complete list of artists here.



View the artist roster for each month here.



The book, La Luz de Jesus 25: The Little Gallery That Could, features images of all the art in the show, a personal anecdote about Shire and the gallery written by each artist, essays by La Luz gallery directors and a foreword by Shire. The book is more than a simple record of the show. Taken together, the images and essays present a history of La Luz de Jesus through the eyes of the artists whose careers are intertwined with Shire and his gallery.



About La Luz de Jesus

Billy Shire opened La Luz de Jesus in 1986 to showcase the work of underground and folk artists largely ignored or dismissed by the legitimate art world. The first permanent gallery space to exhibit alternative art, La Luz quickly became famous as much for its splashy, raucous monthly opening parties as for the often outrageous and confrontational art on its walls. When choosing artists, Shire challenged received notions of “good taste” and “high art” and rejected the arbitrary but long-cherished distinction between commercial and fine art, embracing illustration, underground art, outsider art, animation, and comics, both underground and mainstream. As a result, many artists hugely successful today credit Shire with having launched their careers, and he is widely acknowledged as a seminal figure in contemporary art movements such as Lowbrow and Pop Surrealism.



For purchase questions or for more information, please contact gallery director Matt Kennedy at 323.666.7667 or info@laluzdejesus.com. La Luz de Jesus Gallery is located at 4633 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027.

finished portraits and roses, metal drums and good times

Living in Los Angeles, I've been doing more and more black and grey tattoos and learning every day.
Finally finished and took some healed photos of Cameron's arm- at this view are a couple of portraits and roses...

Cameron and I worked on a trade for some art and this sick kit- metal to the core! He surprised me with the finish and custom drum head, this thing is amazing!!!

Taking short breaks at night while painting just made a little more sense...

Simplify

After having a few conversations with other artist friends, I think that I'm going to stop updating, posting and generally spending any energy or time with social media. I'm keeping my twitter account for a while- but going to slowly get away from all of it- facebook included. I have little to no time to actually respond to my own emails, let alone the thousands of messages and comments on facebook, etc. it's just not worth the energy and I just want to relax, paint and tattoo. Other people's bullshit doesn't concern me and I really don't want to even acknowledge it's rampant sewage that spews in our face and behind our backs.

I work, have fun with my friends, that's it.

So-
I will be spending most of my online energy updating only my personal website, the studio website and this blog.
Thanks for the support.
http://www.sdbarber.com
http://www.memoirtattoo.com>

DON'T BE FOOLED

I worked with a company a few years ago, Acumen Entertainment/Movie Goods- a company that I met through the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco that produces affordable prints and posters. At the time, I knew it wasn't necessarily the best thing to do with my art, but I tried it- and have continued to be bummed out on making that decision. Other artists at the time that made posters with this company were Ron English, Van Arno, Anthony Ausgang and a few others.
I have told them to stop making these things- but I see them pop up on Ebay from time to time and they are not worth more than $20 each. DON'T BE FOOLED.

These are NOT giclee prints nor were they 'limited edition'. They were 'print on demand'. They are 'posters', that were produced by Acumen/Movie Goods. Claiming that these are giclee's is incorrect, misleading and false. These were made and sold as cheap posters at $20 a pop.

We did do some larger scale, limited edition giclee prints of value with these specific images-
'Portrait of the Artist, Genevive Zacconi'
'Portrait of the Artist, Gregory Mocilnikar'
'Juan Puente's Machine Collection, The Arsenal'
'Portrait of the Artist, Kerry Mcracken'

These were all printed in limited editions of 75.
http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_poster/shawn_barber_2007.htm


Everything else from this company was printed as a POSTER.

DON'T BE FOOLED.

artistic ego

artistic ego

I think that the single most detrimental barrier in becoming a better artist is the brick wall facade of ego.
Most artists are raised in an environment surrounded by accolades- at an early age, being praised for their artistic talents.
Positive reinforcement from your peers, especially at a young age, can lead to the misconstrued belief in ones own genius.
Years of being 'the best in class' and winning chunks of brass trophies may definitely stroke the 'masters' subconscious.
It's a high hurdle to jump, but it's possible with the leap of critical faith. Sincerity, honesty, self criticism and a big ole piece of humble pie are a perfect starting point. Understand first that you're actually not that good at what you do and you'll never be as near as good as the greats- and you're ready for the life long journey as a student of your chosen craft.
If you step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to acknowledge your weaknesses, are completely critical of your shortcomings, and sincerely internalize your habits (good and bad), you will be amazed by the progression waiting ahead of you. Critically analyze how close your work reveals it's influence, however narrow or broad, and consistently add new influences into the mix. Fear of change or, even worse, external judgement from fans of your art, will destroy any hopes of real progress. Authenticity comes from fearlessness. Take the leap.