In his lifetime, Ernie Barnes was largely dismissed and ignored ... the pair obtained over more than 20 years of following Kanye West. It was through West that they first met Barnes, who painted ...

Professionally, Ernie Barnes was a football player for the NFL ... Life Restored,” a mural Barnes was asked to paint for Kanye West in 2004 after the rapper survived a car crash.

Reports confirm that Barnes died last Monday (April 27 ... art for their classic debut Uptown Saturday Night. In 2004, Kanye West commissioned him to create the painting “A Life Restored ...

Ernie Barnes, a one-time professional football ... adding that his collectors range from Ethel Kennedy to Kanye West, and from Seton Hall University to the California African American Museum.