barry johnson | Artist of The Movement
“Every year my style changes. No two series are alike. No signature barry. The work is us. Black.
Black as can be.
Proud Black.
Happy Black.
Fearless Black.
Triumphant Black.
Unwavering Black.
Never back down Black.
Right in your muthafucking face BLACK.
Don't fucking play with us Black.
We won't be silenced Black.
You better fucking respect us Black.
Or else Black.”
-barry johnson
Introducing barry johnson, an African American Artist. Originally from Topeka, Kansas and now residing in Seattle, Washington for the last decade. Multi-disciplinary artist of his own initiation who follows no rules (specifically). Amongst his many creative achievements, he has been a conduit for highlighting the importance of embracing Black Culture and most recently Black life, through his art. A participating artist in the Black Lives Matter Mural in that now lives on the streets of Seattle. We had the pleasure of catching up with him about his journey as an artist as well as briefly discuss his creative identity - he walks us through his lens of creativity, determination, and passion.
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Kayla Give me a brief description of your career trajectory – professionally trained or not, opportunities that led to breakthroughs.
barry johnson (bj) I’m self-taught. I love it because I was never trained or given direction [or] rules, so I naturally break them. I worked in consulting prior to becoming an artist, so there I learned how to pitch, concept and create projects, so when I started doing art, I was already prepared and had a strong sense of what I wanted to do.
One of my first big moments came after I wrote and illustrated a children’s book. I used to listen to The Breakfast Club every morning and they had a segment called “Tell ‘em why you blessed.” People could call-in and talk about things that they were proud about. I was up at 3 in the morning calling non-stop until I got through. I got to briefly speak with Angela Ye, Envy and Charlemagne about my book. People heard that and started contacting and following me more. I used that energy to continue building an audience.
I also applied and was selected to give a TEDx Speech. That gave me a large platform to connect with people which lead to more opportunities in the way of speaking events [and] murals.
I used the energy from both of those to do way more in the way of public art projects, murals, collaborations and I applied to show my work everywhere that was interested. Slowly, overtime, things started connecting more and more.
I’m in school for architecture now and plan to use that experience to start working on large-scale sculptures and public art projects. I guess there is no big breakthrough. Just the payout from years of continuing work, delusion and a little luck.
“My background is my identity. It’s every part of my work and practice. My experiences as a Black man, my place within culture, my community and view of the world is always the focal of my work. I couldn’t do it any other way and it’d be weird and inauthentic to try to honestly.”
- barry johnson
Below, a mini gallery of what barry feels are his most important pieces to date. Click through to learn more about each piece + shop this gallery.
Kayla What is your creative Mantra? Like what do you live by to stay on the cusp as a creative?
bj Fall in love with the process and nothing else. I think it’s easy to get caught up in everything else but the work. The likes, comments, write-ups, sales if they ever happen… I don’t focus on any of that. I love doing the work. That’s what drives me and is the most fulfilling part of my practice. As an interdisciplinary artist, I’m constantly shifting mediums. I go from paint, to film, video, performance, speech, mixed-media and movement constantly [within] a month. I made a point to continually shift the style of my work so not to have a signature and keep people guessing. For me, the process is everything. It keeps me honest about the work too. All that other shit can come and go, but I’ll never stop producing because I stay connected to the one thing that matters most to me.
Kayla Who’s work inspires you to push the envelope creatively and why?
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bj I like work from creatives that prior to seeing it, I couldn’t have imagined it. Like, the work that hits you like a fucking lightening bolt and stops you is what keeps me up at night wondering how they conceived such work.
Whenever I come across works like that, they put me in a head space that makes me think about how my work needs to continue to evolve to hopefully creatively [have] the same effect.
Kayla What makes an image iconic?
bj You just know when you see it. It’ll stop you in your tracks and make you question the image and yourself. Iconic art should give you nightmares. It should affect [you] in ways beyond your sense of reasoning, like it has the ability to really fuck you up.
Kayla To date what do you think is your most memorable shot and why?
bj I think the most memorable piece I’ve made was right after I came home from creating work in Hawaii. I knew I wanted to do something different and that I wanted to start exploring painting bodies. I came back and threw out my old paints and started using house paint for the first time. I started working on a figure and decided to cut the details of the face out. After I finished the painting I went and grabbed a tree branch and some roofing material. I glued everything on, and stood back and was like, yeah, I think I’m going to keep doing this for a while. That lead to all of the different types of combination works that I make [now].
Kayla What do you feel ties you in personally to your work?
bj I’ve always said that I’m not painting just because. I’m not a paint by numbers creative. My work is simply me externalizing my internal monologue.
Kayla How did it feel to display your work in Seattle's BLM Mural ?
bj That was an amazing experience and completely unexpected. We all got an IG message the night before like, “Yo, we got this thing we’re doing and you’ve been invited to come paint.” I was like, cool, cool. I’m with it. We all just showed up and did our thing thinking nothing of what would come of it. We were just happy to create a monument about the Black experience in America.
No one, and I mean that with 100% certainty could have imagined the response that that piece got. We were all like, “Yo, this is absolutely nuts!” After painting on [my] hands and knees for 8-hours straight, I was just happy to have participated and was looking forward to eating. By the time I got home things were starting to show-up, but was still small. The next day, we’re on every news station on all of the sites and social [media] and people were tagging us like crazy. It was dope and I’m really, genuinely grateful to have been able to assist.
Kayla I wanted to talk about 2 artworks, one Untitled 153 where we can see there is a man with his hands up. What is the story behind that work? And the other art work is the red paint with hanging converses in chains?
bj So I started exploring working with iron oxide last year as a substitute for charcoal. I like using it because it’s really heavy and as time goes on, it will slowly fall off of the canvas. These works are self-destructing, so I try to address compelling moments with them. The man has his hands up which is a response to Black men getting killed by police at a disproportionate rate compared to everyone else. I put a piece of glass over it so that you’ll see your slight reflection in the work while looking at it. As time progresses all of the iron particles will fall off of this piece. My hope is, by the time that happens, we’ll no longer be dealing with police violence and brutality.
The red piece is another combination work. I used a minimal pallet of colors on the piece with red at the forefront. It has a blood-flow movement to it. I pressed glass on top of it and mounted [a pair of] Converse shoes on it with the laces replaced with chains and spray-painted them gold. The gold and red reflect off of one another because of the glass. It’s about the heart, [our] desires, and greed.
- Reported by Kayla Rolon