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Some of my favorite pieces are from thrift shops. When I find something I really love, I live, work and sleep in it.

I love graffiti because it enables kids from every social extraction to do something that brings them closer to art, when they normally wouldn't be stimulated to be visually creative. Graffiti helps to develop an awareness of immediate expressive and uncontrolled freedom.

From Barry McGee

As soon as street art got popular, I was just like, 'I'm out of here.'

From Barry McGee

I love biographies. I read Patti Smith's 'Just Kids.' I'm into that time frame in New York, the '70s and '80s. In art school, I read 'Close to the Knives,' the autobiography of the artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz.

From Barry McGee

For me, graffiti means making marks on surfaces using just about anything, be it markers, spray, paint, chalk, lipstick, varnish, ink. Or it can be the result of scratches and incisions. The aim is to maintain the energy created by disturbance or excitement in the street.

From Barry McGee

I'm really into California art from the '60s. I like a lot of Bay Area artists, like Nathan Oliveira and Bruce Conner.

From Barry McGee

Drawings, paintings, and sculptures. That's the three pillars of art academia.

From Barry McGee

Work done illegally outdoors or without permission feels like pure freedom to me. I understand how it can upset many in our society, but in the bigger picture, it is ultimately about freedom. We are living in a time where public space has become a commodity for corporations to control and dictate what is seen and heard.

From Barry McGee

Most inspiration still comes from bicycling around San Francisco. This city never fails to inspire me. It is one of the most vibrant cities - especially visually - with a constant influx of young energy arriving daily. I love it.

From Barry McGee

I want to do just, like, regular art. Whatever is made today on canvas goes up against all of art history. It's the most radical thing.

From Barry McGee

Barry McGee

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