Barry Ian Bishop
Contemporary Portrait Art
Washington, DC
 
Barry Ian Bishop, a contemporary fine artist from the inner city of Northeast Washington D.C., has created a unique style of portrait realism and abstract paintings.  His ability is mostly adorned in his portrait work, largely consisting of acrylic on canvas.  He is tenacious on detail, poetic with lines, and creates paintings that speak volumes to the admirer.  Barry Bishop, is an artist, who is passionate about his art.

Barry has created numerous works of art for notable personalities such as actor/comedian Chris Tucker, actress Ruby Dee, 106 & Park host AJ, NFL Athletes and Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy. The abstract portrait of jazz legend Nap Turner was used for the CD cover Nap "Don't Forget the Blues" Turner; °Live at Cada Vez! released in 2002.

It has been said that "the eyes are the windows to the soul", which is vividly captured in each of his paintings.
My first influence from Hip-hop was in 1988, while attending the Corcoran School of the Art.   It was there when a classmate introduced me to the sounds of "Audio Two", a rap duo.   The duo sound was raw and unique.   But I was more intrigued by their album cover.   The cover was a photo of the rappers wearing custom painted sweatshirts, signed by an artist named Shirt King Phade.   I wondered to myself, "How were these images created?"   I asked a former high school classmate, "How were the images created?"   He replied those are airbrushed images.   He went on to explain that it is a pen-like tool that controls the flow of paint.   He was an airbrush artist himself at the time and showed me his airbrush tool and gave me a one-time demonstration.   Two weeks later, I purchase an airbrush kit and the rest is history.

I later began to design airbrushed jeans, T-shirts, and jean jackets.   My specialty was the city scene with rhinestone, which created community frenzy.   This frenzy created a street name for me as the "T-shirt Man" originally then it moved to "B-Man".   I began to become an urban street designer.   One of my first commissions was with DC local go-go band Rare Essence (RE).   I also supplied a former small local urban shop known as the "Madness Connection" now known as Madness Universal. Some of the other local urban shops were: Designer Discount Trading Post   better known as "DDTP", Up Against the Wall, Last Stop, His and Hers just to name a few.

In the early 90's I was commissioned to paint a graffiti mural at the Underground Hip-hop Club located on 13 th and U Street Northwest.   The Underground club is now the Bohemian Jazz Club and the mural no longer exist.   This is how Hip-hop and the urban culture influenced my artistic works.


Artist's Website:
ianarts.com