Barron Claiborne is a self-taught artist and photographer. His passion for photography started at a young age when he received a camera as a gift from his mother. After moving to New York City in 1990, he gained experience by assisting established photographers like Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Saint Claire Born, and Richard Numeroff, with Gordon Parks serving as his photographic mentor. Claiborne’s exceptional work has been recognized and included in permanent collections worldwide, including prestigious institutions like the Polaroid Museum in Cambridge, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and MoCADA, and has received grants from The National Endowment for the Arts and Creative Time. For the past three years, Claiborne’s focus has been on a profound project featuring 8 x 10 Polaroids exploring themes of the body, women (Venus Aurea), saints, and goddesses (sanctified), drawing inspiration from his Southern and African heritage. Notably, his iconic portraits of The Notorious B.I.G, donning a plastic gold crown against a deep red backdrop, were taken just days before the rapper’s tragic death in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. The series, entitled “The King of New York,” gained widespread recognition and is today one of the most important portraits in the world of hip hop.

27h x 23w x 2d in
68.58h x 58.42w x 5.08d cm