About the Artist: Louis Barak
Louis Barak is a Chicago-based visual artist whose artistry has been positively influenced by the institutions, galleries, museums and street art culture of Chicago and New York. His artistic training began within Chicago institutions including Chicago Public Schools, the Marwen Foundation, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His primary mediums include acrylic, oil, and spray paint, and his artworks are heavily influenced by abstract art, graffiti, realism and surrealism. Keynote elements of his style include his use of color to depict form as well as a strong sense of linework, a direct derivative of his 20 years of tattoo experience, which infuses his pieces with fluidity and movement.
Louis dove into the artist lifestyle at 12 years old taking art classes at the Marwen Foundation. He attended Lakeview High School in Chicago, which has a strong arts program, and worked as a Senior Artist at Gallery 37. He was awarded a record sixteen gold medals at Chicago's All City Art Exhibit during his senior year. Louis was living the life of a paid working artist by the age of 16. He went on to attend Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Art with a concentration in painting. He has exhibited his artwork in galleries locally, nationally, and internationally.
Louis derives subject matter for his paintings from his own experiences and includes a range of positive and negative themes ranging from disenfranchised youth, antisemitism, and addiction to the beauty of life, love, and family. He strives for his work to be both pleasing and provocative and aims to provide his audience with both a beautiful visual and an intellectual challenge.
Louis worked with community grassroots organizations to design and install murals during the Covid-19 pandemic free of charge with an emphasis on historically disenfranchised neighborhoods to uplift these communities. He has multiple murals along 47th near Ashland and completed three large-scale gymnasium murals for Port Ministries, a non-profit which serves the Back of the Yards, Englewood, and Gage Park communities. These murals were recognized by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events’ 2022 Culture SNAPS as cultural contributions to the vitality of Chicago as well as in multiple articles in the Chicago Sun Times.
Louis continues his devotion to his artistic practice, working out of Barak Studios in the River West neighborhood. He traveled to the Philippines to do murals in the community to help Macabebe and its people help rebuild from Typhoon Doksuri, enhance the community, and bring international awareness and donations to this community through art. He exhibited in Miami Art Week 2023 and is preparing for a second solo exhibition to take place at CSG Gallery Miami in 2024.
Louis Barak: CV
b. 1982, Chicago, IL;
Working in Chicago, IL
Education
2002-04, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Chicago, IL
1999-2001, Pratt Institute, Focus: Fine Arts, New York, NY
In the Media
2023, “Guitar Petals & Metal”, Chicago Sun Times article published May 14, 2023, Chicago, IL
2023, City of Chicago CULTURE SNAPS Jury Panel, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2023, Track 22, Sometimes On Sundays Podcast, interviewed February 19, 2023, Chicago, IL
2022, City of Chicago CULTURE SNAPS Honoree, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2022, “A New Body of Work”, Chicago Sun Times article published July 1, 2022, Chicago, IL
2019, It’s More than Just a Tattoo, Gen Z Podcast WGN, interviewed October 9, 2019, Chicago, IL
2018, Meet Louis Barak, Voyage Chicago, published August 17, 2018, Chicago, IL
Selected Exhibitions
2024, Home Sweet Home: Nostalgia..ish, Chicago Truborn Gallery, Chicago, IL
2023, Macabebe Exhibit, CSG Gallery, Miami, FL
2023, Red Dot Fair/ Miami Art Week, CSG Gallery, Miami, FL
2023, For the Record, Elephant Room Gallery, Chicago, IL
2023, Helping the Community Through Art, CSG Gallery, Macabebe, Philippines
2023, Higher Expectations, Inside Town, Chicago, IL
2022, 5th Annual 12 x 12 Show, Elephant Room Gallery, Chicago, IL
2022, The Kitchen Sink Show, Seventh Corner Gallery, Chicago, IL
2021, Krampus My Style, Seventh Corner Gallery, Chicago, IL
2021, Pilsen Storefront Window Exhibition, Insight Pilsen, Chicago, IL
2021, 2nd Annual Uptown Art Weekend, Explore Uptown Chicago, Chicago, IL
2020-2021, Pop Up Exhibition, Galerie F, Chicago, IL
2020, Greatest of All Time, Artist Replete, Chicago, IL
2019, Smalls to the Walls, Gallerie F, Chicago, IL
2019, Sacred Heart, Sideshow Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
2018, Styles Collide, ArtWauk Arts Initiative, Waukegan, IL
2018, Flora Fauna, Sideshow Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
2018, From Da Grid, Revolution Tattoo and Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
2017, Dark Arts Exhibition, Royal Flesh Tattoos, Chicago, IL
2010, Spring Awakening, group exhibition, Mastermind Gallery, Chicago, IL
2010, Tiny Arts Exhibition II, Wall Space Gallery, New York, NY
2009, Tiny Arts Exhibition, Wall Space Gallery, New York, NY
2008, Urban Cowboy, solo exhibition, New York Arts Gallery, Beijing, China
2005, Tragic Beauty, duo exhibition, Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL
Related Experience
2023, Sundays on State, Paint the City Live Painting Battle, Chicago, IL
2023, Pediatric Dental Mural, mural installations, Chicago, IL
2023, Pediatric Dental Mural, mural installations, Buffalo Grove, IL
2022, Chicago Fire FC Soccer Mural, Titan Walls Mural Festival, Chicago, IL
2022, Victoria Soto High School, Acero Schools, mural installation, Chicago, IL
2022, Duneland Tattoo Mural, mural installation, Valparaiso, IN
2022, Live Painting, Explore Uptown Chicago, Chicago, IL
2022, Port Ministries Gymnasium Mural, mural installation, Chicago, IL
2022, Pediatric Dental Mural, mural installations, Crystal Lake, IL
2021, Paulie Gees, Logan Square, mural installation, Chicago, IL
2021, Duneland Tattoo Mural, mural installation, Valparaiso, IN
2020, Team Fumaca Academy Mural, mural installation, Chicago, IL
2020, Pediatric Dental Mural, mural installations, Park Ridge, IL
2020, Back of the Yards, various mural installations, Chicago, IL
2020, Next Restaurant, Tokyo immersive experience, Chicago, IL
2019, Hotel Chicago West Loop, mural installation, Chicago, IL
2019, Project Englewood, mural installation, Chicago, IL
2019 to present, Barak Studios, LLC, art studio opening, Chicago, IL
2018, Team Fumaca Academy, mural installation, Chicago, IL
2018, SoNo East Apartments, mural installation, Chicago, IL
2018, Logan Square Mural, graffiti/mural installation, Chicago, IL
2018, Private commission, mural installation, residence, Chicago, IL
2017-19, Revolution Tattoo and Art Gallery, tattoo artist, Chicago, IL
2017, Meeting of Styles, graffiti installation, Chicago, IL
2017, Crawford Steel Company, graffiti/mural installation, Chicago, IL
2017, Private commission, mural installation, business, Chicago, IL
2017, Private commission, mural installation, residence, Chicago, IL
2015-17, Royal Flesh Tattoos, tattoo artist, Chicago, IL
2012-15, Jade Dragon, tattoo artist, Chicago, IL
2009, Five Pointz, graffiti/mural installation, Queens, NY
2005-11, Private commissions, New York, NY
1996 - 2000, Gallery 37, resident artist, Chicago, IL
1995-99, Marwen Foundation, student artist, Chicago, IL