In his own words, ever since he was a child, John Barrick has only wanted to do art. By the age of 7, he started drawing the images he saw in the skateboard, surf and Chicano cultures, and throughout the course of his life, has experimented with several art forms. Those experiences have taught him lessons that continue to influence his artwork in the present day.
A San Jose native, the 34-year-old is now a professional artist based in San Jose’s Japantown, and the Quakes commissioned him to design and paint their new mural at Jack’s Bar.
“I really got into art when I was doing graffiti in middle school and into high school, but even before then I was drawing stuff. It was an adrenaline rush. It was fun a thing to do. Once I got into high school I had a teacher that really tried to push me towards doing fine art. That is when I started going more towards artwork that you see now from me.”
The encouragement from Barrick’s teacher, Juan Cierra, paved the way for his career. A multitalented artist, he does portraits, murals, paintings and signs. His training in the fine arts started with copying old masters’ paintings, learning their techniques, and doing a lot of portraits.
“I was really good at getting facial expressions and the personality of the person in the portrait to show through. I really like doing the facial features of different people and just seeing how their lives are by looking into their eyes and their faces. That has always intrigued me.”
At 19, Barrick had the opportunity to paint murals at a church he attended, which started his love for the craft. It wasn’t until 10 years ago that he began to do art as a full-time gig when he was fired from his job. Always searching for a silver lining, he decided to go all in on his greatest passion.
“It was a lot of sleepless nights and sacrificing time. I met a couple of people early on that really gave me some good advice. I was at a party one time and I saw this artist that I really admired who had an art studio upstairs from where we were at, and I stopped him and started talking to him and he said, ‘You know, while you are down here hanging out and partying, I’m up in the studio working, and that is what you need to be doing.’ I always took it as you always have to be working harder than the next person to succeed at what you’re doing – and that is with anything that you do.”
In order to finish the Quakes mural in time, he spent five days working 12 hours straight, sometimes longer. Even before the first brush stroke graced the wall, he spent hours preparing the design. In the end, the design encompasses a San Jose feel, while reflecting Japantown and featuring Quakes legend Chris Wondolowski.
The mural features a circuit board design with lines and circles running through it to give a more Silicon Valley and San Jose vibe. It also has a Lotus-plant with a couple of bars running through it, which is Japantown’s unofficial logo and is featured at the intersection of Fifth and Jackson.
Barrick utilized the knowledge he gained from his background in graffiti while designing the mural.
“With my history graffiti, a big thing right now with graffiti writers is painting on top of murals. If you have a good mural, it won’t get graffiti painted on it.”
To prevent this, he spent a great deal of time determining the color scheme of the mural, paying close attention to the percentage of blue, red and gray featured.
“I was trying to create something that families can appreciate, but as it is on the side of the bar, and the bar wanted something that is cool and little edgy, I mostly focused on the San Jose Earthquakes.”
Interestingly enough, Barrick’s old art teacher Juan Cierra, the one that helped him get into the fine arts, is friends with the owner of Jack’s Bar.
“Every artist’s goal is to paint whatever they want to paint and be able to sell it and make a living doing that. That’s what I’m working on at the moment, but really, I am living my dream because I get to paint every day. I get to do what I have dreamt about doing and make a living from creating art for people. It’s pretty awesome.”
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