Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink print by Barry McGee. It dates from 2006 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 2006, *Untitled* is a multi‑sheet portfolio comprising seven drypoints with chine collé, three of which incorporate collage, alongside additional drypoint‑aquatint, etching, and spray‑paint interventions. The suite assembles a dense grid of red, blue and white triangles and diamonds that repeat with precise regularity, producing a flat, graphic surface that emphasizes pattern over illusion of depth.
Subject & Meaning
The work’s tightly ordered arrangement of geometric motifs evokes the visual language of street signage and graffiti tags, reflecting the artist’s roots in urban wall art. By reducing the composition to a repetitive puzzle of sharp shapes, the piece foregrounds the tension between controlled design and the spontaneous, hand‑made marks that betray its print‑making process.
Technique & Style
Small irregularities in the edges of the shapes reveal the hand‑crafted nature of the prints, counterbalancing the otherwise mechanical repetition.
McGee combines intaglio methods—drypoint, aquatint and etching—with chine collé, collage and occasional spray‑paint applications. The chine collé technique bonds thin paper to the plate, allowing the vivid color fields to sit flush with the printed lines. Small irregularities in the edges of the shapes reveal the hand‑crafted nature of the prints, counterbalancing the otherwise mechanical repetition.
History & Provenance
The portfolio entered the collection of the Museum of Modern Art shortly after its creation, where it remains part of the institution’s holdings of contemporary print media. Its acquisition underscores MoMA’s interest in documenting the crossover between graffiti culture and fine‑art print practices during the early 2000s.
Context
McGee, a central figure in the Mission School movement of the 1990s and 2000s, often worked under pseudonyms such as Twist and Ray Fong. *Untitled* extends his practice of translating the immediacy of graffiti into the slower, more permanent medium of print, situating the work within a broader dialogue about urban visual culture and its migration into museum contexts.
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.
