Shawn Barber will be exhibiting work in Canvas Los Angeles’ second annual Visionaries show. The show marks the gallery’s first anniversary and will showcase the best and brightest from the global tattoo community. Other artists in the show include Guy Aitchison, Matthew Bone, Alex Garcia, Nikko Hurtado and L.A. Ink’s Kim Saigh, among others. The show opens on Saturday, November 15th and runs until Sunday, January 4th, 2009. 

Opening reception – Saturday, November 15th, 2008   8-11pm

Canvas Los Angeles   441 North Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA

Shawn Barber’s artwork is featured on the cover of Long Beach-based hip-hop artists Johnson + Jonson’s new album, released by Tres Records.

Johnson + Jonson

Shawn Barber is exhibiting work in the group-show, Blood Royale, at Yves Laroche Art Gallery in Montreal, QC. The show will feature multi-disciplinary works by over 30 notable international tattoo artists, including Alex Garcia, Julian Garner, Phil Holt, Henry Lewis and Tin-Tin, among others. The show opens on Wednesday, September 10th and runs until Sunday, September 21st, 2008.

Opening reception: Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 6-9pm

Yves Laroche Art Gallery 4 St-Paul E., Montréal QC

Shawn Barber will be exhibiting at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City, CA. This installment of the Tattooed Portrait series focuses on Los Angeles tattoo artists, with paintings and watercolors of many of LA’s most beloved and storied tattoo artists working today. The Tattooed Portrait Series has been an ongoing project, documenting artists that are tattooed, tattoo artists, their tools and materials. After 3 years of working on this series, two books, a few art shows and learning to tattoo- this show is a culmination of this labor of love so if you’re in the area be sure to check it out. It opens on July 19th and runs until August 23rd, 2008.

Opening reception: Saturday, July 19th, 2008 7-10pm

Billy Shire Fine Arts 5790 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA

Shawn Barber is featured in Humble Pictures recently released film, New Brow. The movie features first hand accounts from the artists, galleries and collectors who started and continue the new american art movement that is Pop Surrealism or Outsider Art. This wide spread populist art movement has origins in Low Brow art, underground comix, punk music, hotrod street culture, Kustum culture, Street Art, Graffiti, Graphic Design, Tattoo, Surf Culture, Tiki Culture and other California sub-cultures. Glenn Barr, Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Ron English and Shepard Fairey were also intervied for the movie, among many others.

Shawn Barber’s new book Forever and Ever is finally out! The 256-page hardcover book acts as an overview of Shawn’s paintings and experiences from the last three years with the Tattooed Portrait series.

Shawn will be doing a book signing at the Shooting Gallery on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 between 6-8pm.

The Shooting Gallery 839 Larkin St., San Francisco, CA

You can view a few spreads from the book on Shawn’s blog.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble will not have the book in stock until after July 2008. If you can’t wait that long visit www.9mmbooks.com to order the book now directly from the publisher!

If you live in Los Angeles you can pick up Forever and Ever at:

La Luz de Jesus/Soap Plant/Wacko 4633 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Canvas Los Angeles 441 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA

As far as stores carrying the book in your city- if they don’t have it, please recommend that they stock it!

Shawn Barber will appear on an episode of TLC’s L.A. Ink. The show features one of Shawn’s new paintings, a portrait of tattoo artist and series regular, Kim Saigh. The painting is part of Shawn’s “Portrait of the Artist” series and was exhibited in the Red Dot Fair at Miami Art Basel. During the episode Kim gives Shawn a skull with roses tattoo and they discuss the oil painting she did of the same tattoo. The episode airs on Tuesday, January 22nd at 10pm on TLC.

L.A. Ink

Portrait of the Artist, Kim Saigh, oil on linen, 60 x 44 inches

Shawn Barber is participating in a two-man show with Ron English for The Shooting Gallery. He will be showing 8 pieces that are a continuation of the Tattooed Portraits series and will be a precursor to his solo show next year at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City, California. The show is part of the Red Dot Art Fair at the South Seas Hotel in Miami Beach. The show runs from December 6th to 9th.

The Shooting Gallery

Red Dot Fair

Portrait of the Artist, Kim Saigh, oil on linen, 60 x 44 inches

Portrait of the Artist, Shige (study), oil on panel, 30 x 24 inches

Portrait of the Artist, Cristy Road, oil on canvas, 44 x 32 inches

Shawn Barber will be one of over 25 artists participating in the F.A.M.E. Collective group show, part of the Miami Art Basel. The F.A.M.E. Collective is a four-story exhibition described as “the downtown art world meeting the uptown fine art world in a cultural crash collision course.” The show celebrates the world’s most prolific street artists that have elevated the mediums of graffiti, pop and contemporary art techniques to a fine-art form. Other artists participating in the show include Dave White, Futura, Ron English, Jeremy Fish, MARS-1, Kenji Hirata, Tomokazu Matsuyama and more. The show runs from Tuesday, December 4th to Friday, December 14th and takes place at 2228 Park Avenue, Miami Beach, FL. RSVP on their website.

F.A.M.E. Collective

Feast or Famine, oil on linen (36″ x 42″)

Shawn Barber has an educational DVD called Foundation Painting with Shawn Barber now available for sale through the Massive Black website. The DVD is one of a series of (at this point) three educational DVD’s that feature both instructional information as well as behind the scenes insight into the artists themselves. The DVD’s were released jointly by conceptart.org and Massive Black, Inc. and the other artists in the series are Peter Koenig and Mirco Djurdjevic. These releases give artists everywhere the opportunity to see into the lives and creative process of some of the most fascinating leaders in the industry.

In the 165 minute DVD, Shawn reveals his unique approach to the art of painting. While watching him work, students will learn about many of the basic elements of painting including drawing, composition, color, form, and value. Shawn also demonstrates many of the important lessons one must understand before even picking up a brush: stretching canvas, color mixing, palette setup, and choosing the right medium. Also included is a behind-the-scenes interview that covers his personal work, career, and what it takes to become a successful artist.

Massive Black