Between Indoor and Outdoor: The Graffiti and Installations of Barry McGee ("Twist")

This thesis traces the transformation of graffiti as it travels from the street to the art institution by closely examining the graffiti and installations of Barry McGee ("Twist"). As a graffitist-turned-artist, McGee looked to his environment and experiences for his art, incorporating the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hwang, Sarah
Other Authors: Howell, Ocean
Language:en_US
Published: University of Oregon 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18704
Description
Summary:This thesis traces the transformation of graffiti as it travels from the street to the art institution by closely examining the graffiti and installations of Barry McGee ("Twist"). As a graffitist-turned-artist, McGee looked to his environment and experiences for his art, incorporating the language of graffiti into his installations. They exhibit what I describe as his ethnography of graffiti because he creates them from his unique position as a graffiti writer, representing graffiti as both an aesthetic expression and established youth culture. In order to explain this re-mediation of graffiti, the thesis aligns McGee's works with the sculptural tableaus of Edward Kienholz to emphasize his use of the narrative to bring the audience into both the aesthetic and the social world of graffiti.