Tara McPherson is an artist based in New York. Exploring concepts surrounding the human condition, her characters hold a tension in their gaze. Inspired by mythology, astrophysics, nature, love, loss, and good old life experience. Her portraits delve into the realms of our psychological states, giving us a peek into the complexities of the human psyche through her other worldly archetypes.
Tara exhibits her paintings and serigraphs in fine art galleries all over the world. Named the crown princess of poster art by ELLE Magazine, she has created numerous gig posters for rock bands such as Beck, The Pixies, and Metallica. She has worked with Sony Pictures Animation doing character designs & creative development. Her array of art also includes a variety of toys with Kidrobot, painted covers for DC Vertigo Comics, advertising illustrations for Wyden+Kennedy, Barton F Graf, Publicis, and Bernstein Andrulli. She taught in the Illustration department at Parsons in NYC for 4 years.
McPherson has published 4 monographs of her art in Wandering Luminations, Bunny In The Moon, Lost Constellations, and Lonely Heart, through Dark Horse. Her art has also been included in books like The Art of Modern Rock, Illustration Now!, 100 Illustrators, Juxtapoz Erotic Art and many more. She has lectured at TedxBrooklyn, Semi-Permanent, Offset, Institute of Contemporary Art London, Massey University, OFFF, School of Visual Arts, University of Philippines, AIGA, and Virginia MOCA among others. Her art has been featured in the Oscar Award winning film Juno, on the cover of the Eisner Award winning anthology Popgun 3, and is in the permanent collection of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has won Toy of The Year, and Best Licensed Figure from the Designer Toy Awards, and has won numerous times in American Illustration, Society of Illustrators NY, and Communication Arts.
Tara was born in San Francisco in 1976 and raised in Los Angeles. She received her BFA with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA in 2001, with an Illustration major and Fine Art minor. She interned at Rough Draft Studios working on Matt Groening's 'Futurama' during college. She moved to NY in 2005.
She has been featured in The New York Times, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Playboy, Bust, Elle, Hi-Fructose, Juxtapoz, Spin, MTV, PBS, Seattle Times, LA Weekly and many more.
Some of her clients include Sony, Microsoft, Bulleit Bourbon, DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Swatch, Rayban, Cirque du Soleil, Kidrobot, SXSW, Pepsi, Fanta, 1800 Tequila, Trust Me Vodka, Gigantic Brewery, Goldenvoice, Penguin, Harper Collins, Bloomsbury, Revolver, Village Voice, Dogfish Head Brewery, and Nike.
