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Barry McGee



Barry McGee is one of those artist that you know about before you even know about him. I've seen his work so many times, but never knew who the artist was. I had actually heard of him as Ray Fong and only knew of him as more of a graphic artist- I had seen some of o\his work on buildings (graffiti type work) and one shirts. Dan Barney talked about him ART226. He talked about how he was very much against the institution, but becaause of his popularity and his artistic point of view that the institution adopted him whether he wanted it or not. His wife, Margaret Kilgallen, was also an artist. She died of cancer in 2001. Her work was also very graphic and anti-establishment. Even though Barry doesn't like the institution, he found that it was as voice for his work. He still does graffiti on the streets, but his work tends to get stolen or scavenged so he doesn't do much outside of museums anymore. I think he still tends to poke fun or mock the institution, though.



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