Pat Perry
PainterIllustratorStreet ArtistKnown for:
Painter, muralist, and illustrator whose travel sketchbooks, drawn with a black Bic pen, document years of hitchhiking and riding freight trains across the US
Education:
Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, MI (attended 2009-2012, did not graduate)
Pat Perry is an American painter, muralist, and illustrator based in Detroit, Michigan. His practice bridges large-scale outdoor murals, intimate acrylic paintings, charcoal drawings, and documentary photography. He gained a devoted following through his travel sketchbooks, detailed pen drawings made during years of itinerant travel by freight train and hitchhiking. His illustration clients include The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, and VICE. He is represented by Hashimoto Contemporary.
Pat Perry's Gear List(2)
Bic
Connection note
Primary tool for his famous travel sketchbooks. Confirmed as "black Bic pen" in Communication Arts feature.
Generic
Product description
Acrylic paint — pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion — dries quickly to a water-resistant finish and can be thinned with water or medium. Introduced commercially in the 1950s, it became the dominant alternative to oil paint for contemporary painters working in flat color, mixed media, and large-scale formats.
Connection note
Nearly all gallery paintings listed as "acrylic on panel" or "acrylic on canvas."
Know something Pat Perry uses that's not listed?
Log in to submitRelated artists
Last updated March 20, 2026