Jerry Ross Barrish

Jerry Ross Barrish (born 23 July 1939) is a San Francisco artist known for his filmmaking and assemblage sculptures.
==Early life==
Barrish was born in 1939 in San Francisco, California, growing up in the Sunset district. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School, Barrish joined the Army and was stationed in Worms, Germany, for a total of three years. He returned home in 1961 and was invited by his father, a boxer from Chicago, to a release party for Mickey Cohen (the only person to ever be bailed out Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary). After being seated next to a bail bondsman, Abe Phillips, Barrish found himself in attorney Melvin Belli's office the very next day, where he signed his bond agent's papers. He would go on to create a successful business, after posting bail for protestors jailed during many now-iconic social movements including 1964's Auto Row Protests, Berkeley's Free Speech Movement of 1964-65, the San Francisco State University Strike (Third World Liberation Front Strikes) of 1968-69, 1969's People's Park Protest, and the Occupation of Alcatraz of 1969, Barrish quickly cemented his reputation as the sole resource for San Francisco's unjustly imprisoned. This earned him the slogan, "Don't perish in jail, Call Barrish for bail!"
==Work==
===Filmmaking===
Upon learning his GI Bill eligibility was due to expire, he applied as a sculptor to the San Francisco Art Institute. He studied with CB (Charles Betram) Johnson as an apprentice sculptor. Barrish switched his major to film and studied with James Broughton and George Kuchar, receiving his BFA in 1974 and his MFA in 1976. He placed a copy of his very first feature-length film, Dan’s Motel (1981), on the desk of Tom Luddy, director of the Telluride Film Festival. A few days later, Luddy called Barrish and told him to send the film to New Directors, New Films at NYC Lincoln Center. The movie went on to become an independent success and festival darling, garnering much acclaim. The next film he wrote and directed was Recent Sorrows (1984) which met with mixed success, but gained him access to the prestigious DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) program in 1986, which earned him a six-month artist’s residency in Berlin. Upon his return to the United States, he shot his final film Shuttlecock (1989), which he’d written during this residency.
In Berlin Barrish renewed his acquaintance with New German Cinema icon Wim Wenders (who he’d first met at 1982 Denver International Film Festival) and was cast in the role of an American director in Wenders’ Palme d'Or winning Wings of Desire (1987). Barrish also acted in Until the End of the World (1991), also directed by Wenders, Rembrandt Laughing (1991) , written and directed by Jon Jost, and I Married a Heathen (1974) directed by George Kuchar. He is the star of a documentary, Plastic Man: The Artful Life of Jerry Barrish (2014) directed by William Farley which details his practice and life story. 
===Assemblage===
By chance, it was in Pacifica, during a routine stroll along the plastic-ridden beach in front of his home, that a solitary new practice catalyzed for Barrish: assemblage. Its roots can be traced to the European avant-garde of the early twentieth century, but it is in California—a breeding ground for new ways of being—that the practice reached its ultimate expression. By the 1980s and 90s, Barrish was joining an art form rich with practitioners identified by their use of materials and a certain sense of humor and irony that defined their work. But Barrish is clear on an important distinction within the art of assemblage. Jerry Barrish creates his own objects out of discarded plastic. In this sense Barrish is a sculptor, and as such he is quite distinct within the field of assemblage. In his own words:
"Sometimes I set out to make an image and actually search for the pieces to complete the idea, but more often it's the found object that dictates what I'm going to do. The completion of the preconceived vision is a much more structured way to work and gives me a sense of command over the materials. But inspiration and freedom come from letting this discarded stuff of our society provide the image itself. "
Barrish takes the practice one step further by bending, cutting, and painting plastic until it no longer resembles its original form, leaving something more sculptural and expressive. He creates tableaus, scenes that provoke the viewer's emotion. Precisely through this intervention, Barrish allows for the nuance and gesture that define and universalize his work, and transcend imposing societal signifiers. Imbued within every piece are emotions and expressions he has observed over the course of his life, one in which a varied and immediate career overlapped a volatile and meteoric epoch in history.
Barrish also serves as artistic director of Sanchez Art Center, a community non-profit art center located in Pacifica, California. Since 2004, Barrish has coordinated many juried exhibitions, including The Left Coast Annual and 50/50 and works with local artists and curators on yearly exhibitions.
Barrish closed his bond business in 2013. He now works daily on his sculpture practice in his Mission-based studio, where his vast archive of artwork is open by appointment.
==Permanent collections==
* Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley
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* Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
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* Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California
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* San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose California
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* Di Rosa, Napa, California
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* Fresno Art Museum, Fresno California
* Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, California
* South Dakota Museum of Art, Brookings, South Dakota
* Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California
* De Saisset Museum, University of Santa Clara, California
===Public art commission===
Bayview Horn, 2015 is located The Shipyard SF at Hunters Point, commissioned by Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (successor to San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.) 
==Selected Solo Sculpture Exhibitions ==
2023 M. Stark Gallery, Half Moon Bay, California,“Jerry Ross Barrish: Protagonist” 
2016 Transmission Gallery, Oakland, California,“Plastic Man”
2016 Smith Andersen Editions, Palo Alto, California, "Nuts & Chews”
2015 Studio Gallery, San Francisco, California, “Plastic Man”
2015 Mendocino Art Center, Nichols Gallery, Mendocino, California, “Jerry Ross Barrish”
2014 South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, South Dakota, "Cast & Crew," (traveling)
2014 Loveland Museum/Gallery, Loveland, Colorado, "Cast & Crew," (traveling
2014 Loft at Liz's, Los Angeles, California "Every Sculpture Tells a Story," 
2014 Art Foundry Gallery, Sacramento, California, “Plastic and Bronze”
2007 Schleswig-Holstein-Haus, Schwerin, Germany, “Ein Amerikaner in Schwerin”
2003 Dominican University of California, San Rafael, California, “Homage to Art & Music”
2002 Sierra College, “About the Ark,” Rocklin, California, “About the Ark,” 
2002 South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, South Dakota, “Dames” (traveling)
2002 University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota, "Dames" (traveling)
2002 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Embarcadero Museum Store window
2000 American River College Art Gallery, Sacramento, California, “Plastic/Plastik”
==Selected Group Sculpture Exhibitions==
2023 The Randall Museum, San Francisco, California, “Inclusive Views”
2022 Ruth's Table, San Francisco, California, "A World Without Plastic Imagined"
2022 de Young Museum, San Francisco, California, "Pictures of People" (virtual)
2021 International Sculpture Center, Kaneko, Omaha, Nebraska, "Little Sculpture Show"
2020 South Dakota Art Museum, "50 Works for 50 Years: Collections Retrospective"	
2019 SFMOMA Artists Gallery San Francisco, California, "Honoring America's Veterans at TPG Global" 
2019 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California, Alumni Show, "ECHOES, From Here to There"
2018 Pacific Rim Sculptors, Peninsula Museum of Art, Burlingame, California, "Sculpture Now" 
2017 San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, "California Sculpture Slam Biennial Exhibition"
2016 Minnesota Art Project, San Francisco, California, “SCRAP Art Show”
2016 San Jose Fairgrounds, San Jose, California, “Ann and Mark’s Art Party”
2016 Studio Gallery, San Francisco, California, “Terrain,” “Mischief,” “Plus One”
2012 Vessel Gallery, Oakland, California, “Ensembles and Orchestras”
2012 Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek, California, “Sculpture in the Garden”
2011 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California, Weborg Gallery, “New Acquisitions”
2011 Sculpturesite/A New Leaf, Sonoma, California, “Animal Dreams”
2009 Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, California, “Assemblage, Collage & Construction”
2008 SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, California, “30th Anniversary Exhibition”
2005 Oakland Museum of California at City Center, “Shaping Possibility: Pacific Rim Invitational”
2005 Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California, “Nature as Muse, Selections from the Permanent Collection”
2005 Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Rosa, California, “Contemporary Expressions, RE-FUSED” 
2004 di Rosa Preserve, Napa, California, “The True Artist, Annual Benefit Exhibition”
2004 SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, California, “Furniture as Art”
2002 San Jose Art Museum, “Is the Medium the Message? Contemporary Art from Permanent Collection” 
2002 Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, California, “A Portrait of My Father”
2000 University of California Santa Cruz, Cowell College, “The New Millennium Readymade, Even”
1999 University Art Museum, Berkeley, California, “Fragments of the World, From Collage to 				Readymade” 
1997- 1998 Oakland Museum of California,"Hello Again! A New Wave of Recycled Art 	Design" (traveling)
Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, California
McAllen International Museum, McAllen, Texas
Vancouver Museum, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
1996 Oakland Museum of California Sculpture Court, “Bay Area Sculptors: The Figure”
1996 SFMOMA Rental Gallery, San Francisco, California, “Refound”
1995 Galleria Mesa, Mesa, Arizona, “Reassembly Required”
1994 Capp Street Project, San Francisco, California, “Old Glory, New Story: Flagging the 21st Century” (traveling) Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, California
1994 Works/San Jose, San Jose, California, “Dancing on the Continuum: Survey of Bay Area Contemporary Sculpture”
1993 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California, “68th Annual Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition”
1993 San Mateo County Arts Council, Belmont, California, “Assembly & Collage”
1993 Rogue Community College, Grants Pass, Oregon, “Barrish & Shuey”
1993 Lewis-Clark Center for Arts and History, Lewiston, Idaho, “Earth Vision”
1992 Arizona Museum for Youth, Mesa, Arizona, “Déjà Vu: The Recycled Object in Art”
1992 Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, California, “Found Object as Art”
1992 Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, “Transformations: Barrish & Grossman”
1992 Modesto Jr. College Art Gallery, Modesto, California, “”Wolfe, Norman & Barrish”
1991 Ohio State University at Mansfield, The Pearl Conard Gallery, Mansfield, Ohio
1991 Florida State University, “Tallahassee, Florida
1990 Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, California, “Small Works Annual Juried Exhibition”
1990 San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, California
1990 Gallery Route One, Pt. Reyes Station, California, “Artists & Environmental Crisis”
1989 California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, California, “California Small Works”
1989 Arts Council of San Mateo County, Belmont, California, “Bay Arts”
1989 San Francisco City Hall Routunda, San Francisco, California, “The Art of Recycling”
==Independent Feature Films==
Shuttlecock (1989) - World Premiere, Berlin International Film Festival, Forum, Berlin,Germany
Recent Sorrows (1984) - World Premiere, San Francisco International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, San Francisco, California 
Dan's Motel (1981) - World Premiere, New Directors/New Films, Lincoln Center, New York City, New York
==Retrospective Film Exhibitions==
2015 Hof International Film Festival, Hof, Bavaria, Germany
2015 Roxie Cinema, San Francisco, California
2007 Schleswig-Holstein-Haus, Schwerin, Germany 
2004 Hof International Film Festival, Hof, Bavaria, Germany 
2003 Festival Internacional de Cinema da Figueira da Foz, Portugal 
2002 South Dakota Art Museum, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota 
1998 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California 
1991 The Museum of Modern Art, Cineprobe, New York City, New York 
1990 Roxie Cinema, San Francisco, California 
1986 DAAD, Arsenal, Berlin, West Germany 
1986 Metropolis, Hamburg, West Germany
1986 German Film Museum, Frankfurt, West Germany 
1980 Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay, California 
1979 The Cinematheque, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California
==Selected Film Festivals & Releases==
2002 University of Minnesota Film Society, “Films with the Filmmaker,” Minneapolis, Minnesota 
1998 Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD, Arsenal, Berlin, Germany 
1992 Third Channel-TV, Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne, Germany 
1991 Amerika Haus, Berlin, Germany
Arsenal, Berlin, Germany
The Museum of Modern Art, "Film Arts Foundation at Fifteen," New York, NY
Third Channel-TV, Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne, Germany 
1990 Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam, Holland 
Houston International Film Festival, Houston, Texas 
Cinequest Film Festival, San Jose, California 
Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, Illinois 
Cannon Art Houses, Rotterdam, The Hague & Amsterdam, The Netherlands 
1989 Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin, West Germany 
Florence Film Festival, Florence, Italy
Mill Valley Film Festival, Mill Valley, California 
Film Arts Festival, Film Arts Foundation, San Francisco, California 
Uppsala Film Festival, Uppsala, Sweden 
Gottingen Film Festival, Gottingen, West Germany 
Fifige Film Festival, Hamburg, West Germany 
1987 WNET-TV, "Independent Focus," New York, New York 
1985 Munich International Film Festival, Munich, West Germany 
American Independent Film Festival, Amsterdam, Holland 
German television in Munich and Cologne, West Germany 
Antwerp International Film Festival, Antwerp, Belgium 
1984 Hof International Film Festival, Hof, West Germany 
International Film Exhibit, Taipei, Taiwan 
San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, San Francisco 
1983 Agee Room at Bleecker Street Cinema, New York 
"Film in the Cities," Minneapolis, Minnesota 
Festival International de Cinema, Figueria da Foz, Portugal 
Lisbon Cinematheque, Lisbon, Portugal 
Florence Film Festival, Florence, Italy 
Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam, Holland 
Festival International du Nouveau Cinema, Montreal, Canada 
1982 The Museum of Modern Art, "New Directors/New Films," New York City 
Denver International Film Festival, Denver, Colorado 
Mill Valley Film Festival, Mill Valley, California 
Cinematheque, Athens, Greece 
Hof International Film Festival, Hof, West Germany 
Pacific Film Archives, "An Evening of Bay Area Film," Berkeley, California 
1979 Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland 
1978 Midwest Film Conference, Chicago, Illinois 
1977 Palo Alto Filmmakers' Guild, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, California 
Santa Clara Film Festival, Santa Clara, California 
1976 Festival Internazionale del Film Sull'arte e di Biografie d'artisti, Asolo, Italy
==Film Awards & Residency==
1990 Foreign Critics' Choice, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam, Holland 
1989 Jury's Choice, Cinequest Film Festival, San Jose, California 
1986-1987 DAAD Residency (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), Berlin, Germany 
1976 Director's Choice, Sinking Creek Film Celebration, North Carolina 
1976 Juror's Award, San Francisco Art Institute Student Exhibition, San Franciscp
Category:1939 births
Category:People from San Francisco, California
Category:Artists