Meet Tripp Derrick Barnes: a twenty-six-year-old artist in NYC, born in Columbia, South Carolina. He attended Savannah College of Art and Design and found his true passion at the age of twenty because of a required Life Drawing class. After graduating, Tripp traveled the globe alone, visiting over 16 countries on four continents. He studied culture, worked with locals, and took interest in helping children less fortunate. The experience shed a positive light upon him. In 2012, he moved to New York City to work on films such as “The Dark Knight” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. Shortly after, he took positions at advertising giants GREY and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal while pursuing his love of the arts. It’s here where he began to acquire a following, which helped launch him as a full-time artist.
Within a year of his first painting in the city, he has been featured on Good Morning America and done personal portraits for celebrities such as Andy Cohen and Ernest Greene from the band Washed Out.Tripp and his collaborative partner, Steven Swancoat, have founded their own form of art style coined “PopNeoism”. It’s a great time for PopNeoism with it’s audience expanding at an exponential rate. In 2012 Tripp moved into his new 74th and Columbus apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan. He quickly learned of his artist and OB/GYN resident neighbor Steven Swancoat. After befriending each other, Steven encouraged Tripp to do an abstract on his closet door… it was the start of their first collaboration. After a couple more paintings together, they soon realized the potential they had working as one. Combined, they make an excellent team, with a seamless approach to creativity. In some ways they are similar, others completely different. Though what is clear is that when they put their minds together, magic happens. It’s already been a thrilling ride for them both, yet it’s still in the beginning phases.
You may check out Steven Swancoat’s website below:
www.swancoatart.com
Together with their team of 11 people, have raised over $8,000 in charity. Their most notable charity event took place last year, where they hosted a massive art show and fundraiser with Susan Sarandon at her Ping Pong Club, SPiN in NYC, which had never been done before. At the time, Spin did not have any paintings on the walls, nor did they regularly host charity events. After hosting Steven and Tripp’s successful and epic fundraiser, the ping pong club completely renovated their space and filled it with painted murals all over their walls. They also host events regularly now. Steven and Tripp had basically turned the ping pong club into a circus of a party for the masses to enjoy themselves for a good cause: getting three different Dj’s to play, and even having acrobats performing. The event was a huge success and since then, SPiN has taken a different approach to their art direction and event planning. Although they take pride in influencing SPiN to evolve as a company, they explained to us how it was not easy to pull off. It took them six months to plan the fundraiser, paying attention to every last detail, like getting the photo booth for social media and for people to leave with photos to remember the event by.
The contemporary art world is vibrant and booming like never before and it’s a twenty-first-century phenomenon, a global industry in its own right. Contemporary artists seek the power to astonish, satisfy and challenge: the legend of Tripp’s artwork achieves all of these things. He showcases art that the public may not ordinarily have access to outside of a large urban environment within a welcoming, creative, and inspirational platform. As time goes on Tripp will continue to delve deeper into the world of art by utilizing a wide range of mediums and taking an intimate approach to art direction and design. He will further build his brand and develop more designs and artwork. We will all be looking forward to seeing what he accomplishes next with his limitless creativity and unique take on art!
You can view Tripp’s most recent work and progress through his Instagram: @Tripp_Art or website at http://PopNeoism.com