Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a paint drawing by Barry McGee. It dates from 2004 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
The pieces are housed in custom frames, emphasizing the artist’s interest in the boundaries between gallery display and street-level aesthetics.
Created in 2004, this installation by Barry McGee assembles six framed works into a pyramidal arrangement. It blends drawing, collage, photography, and found textual elements using ballpoint pen, synthetic paint, cardboard, and typewritten paper. The pieces are housed in custom frames, emphasizing the artist’s interest in the boundaries between gallery display and street-level aesthetics. The composition reflects a layered, fragmented view of urban life.
Subject & Meaning
The work presents a series of mundane, intimate, and slightly surreal urban vignettes: a head drawn in pen, hands reaching into a car trunk, a VCR with twin faces, and a bottle of Clorox. These fragments suggest anonymous lives, domestic neglect, and the quiet absurdities of city existence. No single narrative dominates; instead, the piece invites viewers to piece together emotional undercurrents from isolated, everyday moments.
Technique & Style
McGee employs a hybrid approach, merging hand-drawn marks with photographic imagery and typewritten text. Ballpoint pen lines are loose and immediate, while cut-and-pasted paper introduces texture and found imagery. Synthetic paint adds flat, bold color blocks, contrasting with the grain of the chromogenic print. The use of cardboard as support and the DIY framing reinforce a sense of improvisation, echoing street art’s resourcefulness.
History & Provenance
This work emerged during McGee’s period of transition from underground graffiti to institutional recognition. Created after his participation in major exhibitions like the 2000 Whitney Biennial, it reflects his ongoing engagement with the visual language of the street while adapting it for gallery contexts. The frames, constructed by the artist, serve as both containers and commentaries on how street imagery is curated and displayed.
Context
McGee’s practice is rooted in the Mission School, a San Francisco-based movement that fused graffiti, punk aesthetics, and social realism. This piece aligns with the group’s interest in marginalized communities and the visual clutter of urban environments. The inclusion of everyday objects like Clorox and VCRs situates the work within late 20th-century American domestic decay, reflecting broader cultural anxieties about isolation and obsolescence.
Legacy
The work exemplifies how graffiti-derived practices entered mainstream art institutions without losing their raw, observational edge. McGee’s integration of disparate media and informal composition influenced a generation of artists who blurred lines between fine art and street culture. This installation remains a quiet but persistent testament to the poetic potential of overlooked urban detritus.
Artist & collection
Artist
Barry McGee (born 1966) is an American artist. He is known for graffiti art, and a pioneer of the Mission School art movement. McGee is known by his monikers: Twist, Ray Fong, Bernon Vernon, and P.Kin.
