Craig “Skibs” Barker grew up in Southern California during the early 80’s and the explosions of both punk rock and surfing culture. With a healthy dose of punk flyers, album covers, and surfing magazines buzzing through his head, Craig began making flyers and t-shirts for his friends and his own punk bands. Fast-forward to today; Craig’s most recent paintings infuse his long-standing love for painting and rendering the human female figure with his punk fueled graphic design. Mixing different approaches, techniques, and mediums, he creates a sense of memory, personal history, and appreciation for the female form. Combining elements of pop culture, literary censorship, and a positive mental attitude, he creates layered scenes of voyeuristic mischief. Craig’s work explores the junctions between past and present, memory and imagination, fantasy and reality, while creating a dialog between image and viewer.

Craig “Skibs” Barker

Born: 1968, Long Beach, CA.
Lives: Costa Mesa, CA

EDUCATION:
BFA, California State University,
Fullerton. 



COLLECTIONS:

Morgan Spurlock (Documentary Film Maker)

Jeff Grosso (Professional Skateboarder)

Andrew Hosner (Gallery Owner)

LC (Curator)

Ben Brough (Professional Surfer/Artist)

Michelle Waterman (Curator)

Chris Bradley (Senior Environmental Designer,  Hurley)

Colleen Lohrman (CEO, Epicuren Discovery)

Selected Solo Shows

2011

  • Curbside Gallery, Santa Ana, CA, Beautiful Debris

2009

  • Neue Transit Studio, Santa Ana, CA

Selected Group Shows

2011

  • Paramount Studios, Hollywood, CA, VH1/Billabong Design For Humanity
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City, CA, Picks of the Harvest
  • Art Whino Gallery, Washington D.C., G40 Art Summit
  • C.A.V.E. Gallery, Venice, CA, 3 Year Anniversary Group Exhibition
  • Together Gallery, Portland, OR, “LAX/PDX”
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City, CA “Torn and Tattered”, 3 Person Show With Liz Brizzi and Derek Gores
  • AR4T Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, “Cinema 15″
  • Copro Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, “Conjoined in 3D”
  • CRG Gallery, New York, NY, “Postcards From The Edge”

2010

  • Pravus Gallery, Phoenix, AZ, “3 Person Show”
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City, CA “Five Year Anniversary Show”
  • L.A. Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Beyond Eden: Art Fair”
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City, CA “Love Conqures All: Art For Equality”
  • Hurley International, Costa Mesa, CA, “Transition”
  • London Miles Gallery, London, England “The Next Generation: A New Chapter in Contemporary Art”
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City, CA “Picks of the Harvest: Art Walk 2010″
  • C.A.V.E. Gallery, Venice, CA “Repeat Offenders”
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City, CA “Vision”
  • Art Whino Gallery, Washington D.C. “G40: The Summit”
  • Sherman Gallery, Marina Del Rey, CA “Give Me Space To Think”
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Fresh”
  • Nike Theatre, Los Angeles, CA “We Love Art: Paper Magazine/Converse Shoes”
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “A Cry For Help”
  • C.A.V.E. Gallery, Venice, CA “Urban Confluence”

2009

  • Factory Place Arts Complex, Los Angeles, CA “Juxtapoz Magazine 15th Anniversary Art Show”
  • Art Whino Gallery, Washington D.C. “Old Skoolin For The Children”
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Sight For Sore Eyes”
  • L.A. Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Beyond Eden Art Fair”
  • Cactus Gallery, Eagle Rock, CA “Girls Girls Girls”
  • Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “CA-Boom”
  • Artery Gallery, Costa Mesa,CA “Board Stiff”
  • Thinkspace “Pop-Up” Gallery, Culver City, CA, “Culver City Invasion”
  • Art Whino Gallery, Washington D.C., “Inked Souls”
  • C.A.V.E. Gallery, Venice, CA, “The Yum Yum Show”

2008

  • Go, Rilla! Gallery, Santa Ana, CA “Aerosol”
  • Koo’s Art Center, Long Beach, CA “United C.A.T.”, Co-Featured Artist with Aaron Kraten
  • Sarah Jane & Co., Sacramento, CA “Chain of Chaos – Bad Otis Link and Friends”
  • C.A.V.E. Gallery, Venice, CA “Crazysexycool”
  • Infusion Gallery, 
Los Angeles, CA “Cannibal Flower”, Featured Artist
  • Long Beach Arts Gallery, Long Beach, CA “Human Figure Exhibition”, Juried Show
  • The Grind Gallery, Mar Vista, CA “Love & Bullets”
  • The Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Think Big”
  • Hangar 1018 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “XX/XY”

2007

  • Ghetto Gloss Gallery, Silverlake, CA “In The Mix”, Mixed Media Show
  • The Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Price…Less”
  • J Flynn Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA “Urbanism”, Three Person Show With Aaron Kraten and Matt Linares
  • Neue Transit Studio, Santa Ana, CA “Gas Mask as an Accessorie”, Two Person Show With Ben Brough
  • April Gallery @ The Camp, Costa Mesa, CA ISM Magazine “Trash to Treasure”
  • One Leaf Gallery, Pomona, CA “What Is A Porn Star?”
  • Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA “Self Perceptions”, Juried Show

2006

  • Various Galleries, 
Los Angeles, CA “Cannibal Flower”, Ongoing Traveling Monthly Art Event
  • Neue Transit Studio, Santa Ana, CA 

“The Art of 2 Surfers”, Two Person Show With Alex Knost
  • Mower Shop Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA

2005

  • Flying A Studio, Balboa, CA “Raw and Desperate” Group Show
  • The Loft (Artist Lofts & Exhibition Space), Los Angeles, CA