barry johnson

What barry johnson does

Barry Johnson is a Seattle-based self-taught visual artist operating as a sole proprietorship, producing paintings, sculptures, murals, a documentary series, and a podcast centered on Black identity and community. His work has been exhibited in nine solo shows between 2016 and 2025 and is held in collections across corporate, federal, municipal, cultural-institution, and nonprofit-housing buyers — including Amazon, Meta, Unilever, the U.S. State Department, the City of Seattle, MoPOP, Seattle University, and Bellwether Housing. The practice is represented in the primary market by Winston Wachter gallery and has been amplified by high-visibility public commissions such as the 2020 CHOP Black Lives Matter street mural, the Amazon artist residency (2022), and the SeaTac Airport "Horizons" sculpture (2025-2026).

Revenue is generated through a mix of object sales via gallery representation, commissioned public-art installations for corporate and civic clients, artist residencies, mural commissions, and emerging media (documentary/podcast). Pricing is project-based and opaque, typical of a mid-career independent artist, with no disclosed ARR, no external funding, and no institutional investors in the capital structure. The business model is therefore concentrated in the individual artist's output capacity, with growth dependent on continued institutional placement and collector demand.

Headcount is effectively one (the artist), with the recent pursuit of an architectural design credential suggesting an intent to expand the type and scale of built-environment commissions available to the practice. There are no subsidiaries, no M&A activity, no outside capital, and no platform or technology component to the offering — the asset is the artist's body of work and reputation.

Name

barry johnson

Legal name

barry johnson

Website

https://barryjohnson.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Barry Johnson is a Seattle-based self-taught solo visual artist producing paintings, sculptures, murals, and documentary work centered on Black identity, serving corporate, federal, municipal, and institutional collectors via gallery representation and commissioned public art.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Artwork Sales: Sale of original paintings, sculptures, and mixed media works through gallery representation and direct studio sales
2. Public Art Commissions: Large-scale public installations commissioned by municipalities, housing developers, and corporations
3. Artist Residencies: Paid residencies at tech companies (Amazon, Facebook/Meta) and cultural institutions
4. Licensing: Licensing of artwork designs for commercial products, such as ice-cream carton design for Unilever

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Barry Johnson creates and sells original visual artwork including paintings in oil, latex, and iron oxide mediums, large-scale public sculptures and murals, and themed art series. The practice serves corporate art collections, cultural institutions, municipalities, real estate developers, and private collectors through gallery representation, direct commissions, and public art projects. Revenue comes from one-time artwork sales, public art commissions, paid artist residencies, and licensing of designs for commercial products.

Product overview

Barry Johnson is a visual artist offering an integrated portfolio of original paintings, public sculptures, murals, and documentary series. His core offerings include paintings in various mediums (oil, latex, iron oxide), large-scale public art installations (sculptures at SeaTac Airport and Seattle locations, murals), themed art series (Between the Sheets sketchbook series, Iron Oxide, Combinations), and the Portraits documentary film series profiling other artists. His work explores Black identity and its relationship to space, with pieces held in collections including the State Department, MoPOP, and Amazon.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Paintings Original paintings created using oil on canvas, oil on panel, oil on paper, and latex on canvas. The paintings explore themes of Black identity, human experience, and personal narratives and are sold through gallery representation and direct studio sales.
• Horizons Permanent aluminum relief sculpture located at SeaTac Airport in the North Main Terminal depicting three figures laid out in grass, celebrating the transformative power of nature.
• Pinnacle Sculpture celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. James Washington, located at Midtown Square in Seattle's Central District, serving as an adjunct to his Fountain Of Triumph.
• Suspension Collection of exterior public art works for the Hilite development in Seattle's International District, including a five-story sculpture with cast shadow projections, hyper-colored panels, and a block-long glass walkway in magenta, cyan, and yellow.
• New Perspectives Expressive mural outlining the exterior of the Midtown Building in Seattle's historic Central District, created during the pandemic as a celebration of the neighborhood beyond its history of redlining.
• Monuments: Meta Collection of paintings created during residency with Meta focusing on the limited representation of Black workers in tech communities and the code-switching required to fit in.
• Nature of Community Collaborative mural celebrating community and nature's role in daily life, created with Ari Glass and Craig Cundiff for Bellwether Housing in Seattle.
• Between the Sheets Ongoing weekly sketchbook series profiling Black men in different formats. An artistic journal exploring identity and representation.
• Portraits Documentary film series profiling artists creating prolific works, featuring Perri Rhoden, Soo Hong, Lydia Gerald, Erin Shagiki, Neon Dion, and Xavier Kelley.
• Iron Oxide Series Paintings using iron oxide as a primary medium, often combined with latex and glass, exploring texture and color.
• Combinations Series Mixed media paintings combining various materials including latex, duct tape, metal, glass, plastic, tile, wood, and rubber on canvas.

Quantifiable outcome

• Works held in State Department collection, MoPOP, and Amazon corporate collections

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Winston WachtercoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPrimary gallery representation for Barry Johnson. Winston Wachter Fine Art represents the artist for sales and exhibitions, including solo shows 'for real though' (2023) and 'never leave without saying goodbye' (2024).
• AmazoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArtist-in-residence program (2022) resulting in solo exhibition 'memoir.' Amazon holds artworks in its corporate collection and commissioned original art for Black History Month (2022).
• Facebook/MetacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArtist-in-residence (2021) creating the 'Monuments: Meta' series exploring Black workers in tech. Also commissioned mural '(b)lack Hack' (2021).
• BASE Experimental SpaceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerArtist residency providing studio space and exhibition opportunities.
• Vivid Matter CollectiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership on the Black Lives Matter Street Protest Mural at CHOP (2020). Later commissioned by City of Seattle to make the protest mural a public monument.
• MoPOP (Museum of Pop Culture)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreated 'Confluence & Influence' multi-media mural (2022) and animations for the museum. Partnership for public art commissions.
• Bellwether HousingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative public art project 'Flourish On Rainer' celebrating community and nature. Created with artists Ari Glass and Craig Cundiff (2023).

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Mark Bradford: Black contemporary artist known for large-scale mixed-media works and public installations. Comparable in mixed-media technique, scale of work, and presence in major institutional collections.
• Theaster Gates: Black artist known for public/community-engaged installations, urban revitalization projects, and social practice. Comparable in large-scale public art commissions and the use of art as community engagement, particularly for Black narratives.
• Firelei Báez: Black diasporic contemporary artist working in painting and installation that re-imagines histories of Black Caribbean and Latinx identity. Comparable in mixed-media figuration and exploration of identity through portraiture.
• Nina Chanel Abney: Black contemporary artist working in bold, figurative paintings and large-scale murals addressing race, identity, and pop culture. Comparable in figuration, mural practice, and thematic focus on contemporary Black identity.
• Mickalene Thomas: Contemporary Black artist working across painting, photography, and installation with Black female figures as central subjects. Comparable in mixed-media figurative practice and gallery-representation commercial model.
• Tavares Strachan: Black contemporary artist working across sculpture, installation, and public projects that explore identity, history, and Black experience. Comparable in public-installation practice and museum/institutional placement.
• Kehinde Wiley: Internationally recognized Black figurative painter famous for large-scale portraits that reinterpret classical portraiture with Black subjects. Directly comparable in subject matter (Black figures, identity) and medium (painting, sculpture) and operates in the same premium contemporary-art commercial tier.
• Amy Sherald: Black figurative painter best known for the official Michelle Obama portrait, working in portraiture of Black subjects. Directly comparable in thematic focus on Black identity and representation, with similar institutional placement tier.
• Tschabalala Self: Black figurative artist working in painting, print, and sculpture that explores Black identity, body, and representation. Comparable in figuration of Black bodies, mixed-media approach, and contemporary-art market positioning.
• Hebru Brantley: Black artist working in murals, paintings, and mixed-media exploring Black identity and pop-culture figures. Directly comparable in style (bold figurative work, murals), subject matter, and mixed-medium approach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/barryjohnson.co
• Facebookfacebook.com/barryjohnsonco
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/barryjohnsonco

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about barry johnson