Illustrator, Fine Artist

Shawn Barber

Fine Art / Personal Works
Tattoo Portfolio

Shawn's signature brushwork has appeared in advertising, music, magazines, children's books, corporate, entertainment and newspapers. Partic...ularly recognized for his portrait work, he has been honored by American Illustration, The Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, RSVP, and The Artist's Magazine among others. Articles and reviews of his work have appeared in ArtNews, Juxtapoz Magazine, The Artist's Magazine, International Tattoo Magazine, Tattoo Artist Magazine, and SF Weekly. His work has been featured in Taschen Books' "Illustration Now" and "1000 Best Web Portfolios", Harper Collins' "The Big Book of Illustration Ideas", Mark Murphy's "Dialogue Book", Schiffer Publishing's "I Love Tattoos", and Outre Gallery Press' "Tattoo Parlour".

Commercial clients include: Nike, Target, Google, Atlantic Records, T.E.D. Conference, Gatorade, Subway, Maxim, Scholastic Books, Elektra Records, American Airlines, Converse, Bulleit,NBC,The Grammy Awards, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone magazine, Psychology Today, Verizon T-Mobile, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, The Progressive, NYU School of Law, GQ, Sports Illustrated, Utne Reader, The Source, The Washington Post, MTV Networks, Saks Fifth Ave, TBWA, Yoga Journal, Woodward West / Woodward East, Tres Records / Johnson and Jonson, Call of Duty, Sarofsky, space150, Creature Skateboards, Nitro Snowboards, Rockstar Energy, Business Week, The Village Voice and the Wall Street Journal.

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. In 'The Tattooed Portraits Series', Shawn has created an homage and study of modern tattooing through painting portraits of tattooists and artists, tattooist's at work, their tools and environments.

Shawn earned his B.F.A from Ringling College of Art in 1999 and A.A.S. from Cazenovia College in 1997. His paintings are 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: Somerset House Museum, London, UK; Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Halle Saint Pierre Museum, Paris; Pinnacles Gallery, Queensland, Australia; Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ; Artspace, Shreveport, LA; Joshua Liner Gallery, NYC, NY; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA; Southern Illinois University Museum, Carbondale, IL; and the University of Houston, Houston, TX.

Among his extensive achievements, he has taught drawing, painting and the business of art for 16 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. His most recent fine art book, 'Memoir : The Tattooed Portraits Series' a 256 page hardcover visual tome, published by Last Gasp Books, was released in July 2012. Show more

Images from main Gallery
Galleries

Shawn Barber

Pharoah's Horses Study

'Pharoah's Horses Study (after John Frederick Herring and Sailor Jerry), 2020, oil on panel, 24" x 36", Personal Work

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Psychologist Portraits

56 Psychologist's Portraits for Psychology College Textbook, W.H. Freeman / Macmillan Publishers, 2013-2016

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Nike NBA Campaign

Social Media campaign for Nike NBA and space150 / Overnight portraits of NBA playoff moments / Lebron James / Isaiah Thomas, 2017

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Nike NBA Campaign

Social Media campaign for Nike NBA and space150 / Overnight portraits of NBA playoff moments / Kevin Durant and Draymond Green meme, 2017

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Nike / Kevin Durant NBA

'10 Custom hand painted wooden shoe box tops for a special release of Kevin Durant's Nike KDX 10 year anniversary shoe / Nike and space150, 2017

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Paris Tattoo Convention Poster

'Mondial du Tatouage, Paris', Official Poster for annual Tattoo Convention in Paris, 2018

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Bulleit Bourbon

'Tattoo Edition Limited Bottle Artist Series, Los Angeles', for Bulleit Bourbon, 2018

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Tank Garage Winery

'Custom Wine Labels', for Tank Garage Winery, Napa Valley, CA, 2015-2017

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

'No Mask, No Entry (featuring The Great Omi)'

'No Mask, No Entry (featuring The Great Omi)', oil on panel, 16" x 12", 2020, Personal Work The world was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. A sign for the times.

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

'Ralph Johnstone's Flash Study 1'

'Ralph Johnstone's Flash Study 1', oil on panel, 30” x 40”, 2020, Personal Work This piece was inspired by the hand painted flash of Chicago’s pioneering tattooist Ralph Johnstone.

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Scholastic Books Illustrations

'Diamond Land', Narrative illustrations for Scholastic Books, 2003

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

The Great Omi

‘The Great Omi Head Study’, oil on canvas panel, 10” x 8”, 2020, Personal Work Horace Ridler, AKA The Great Omi was a professional freak and sideshow performer from the 1930’s, his iconic ‘zebra’ inspired patterns tattooed by the legendary English tattooist, George Burchett.

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Creature Skateboards, Artist signature series

Creature Skateboards, Artist signature series, 2018

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Creature Skateboards, Artist signature series

Creature Skateboards, Artist signature series, 2018

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

SRQ Magazine Portraits

Various industry professional's, painted for a series of roundtable discussions, for SRQ magazine, 2002-2003

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

President Barack Obama for Wall Street Journal

'Portrait of President Elect Barack Obama' for Wall Street Journal's Inauguration Issue, 2009

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

American Prospect Cover

Cover art for The American Prospect magazine, with a re-creation of a Delacroix painting, depicting George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, 2000

© 2023 Shawn Barber
Shawn Barber

Johnson & Jonson / Blu & Mainframe

Album and Merch, Art usage, Tres Records, Johnson & Jonson / Blu & Mainframe, 2008

© 2023 Shawn Barber