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Sam Barnett

Creating the Royally Big Portrait with @BBCcin @Christies @NationalPortrait Gallery. Used to build tech companies (@struq @quantcast @join_ef)

Sam Barnett is a British artist and former tech entrepreneur who created the Royally Big Portrait for BBC Children in Need.12 He became a full-time artist at the age of 38 after a successful career in technology.13

Barnett was commissioned by the BBC to create the Royally Big Portrait, a giant digital portrait of King Charles III, which featured thousands of individual portraits of the King drawn by pupils and students from across the UK.2 The final piece combined 16,000 sketches and was visited by more than 2 million people in eight days when it was unveiled on the world's biggest digital screen at Outernet London in May 2023.24

Before his artistic career, Barnett founded Struq, a company personalizing online advertising, which won several awards including Best Tech Start-Up at the Telegraph Awards 2012.3 He was also named Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.3 After selling his company, he served as Chief Product Officer at Quantcast and later as President and Partner at Entrepreneur First, a venture fund investing in technology talent.25

Barnett graduated from the University of Leicester with an LLB in Law in 2004.3 In 2023, he returned to his alma mater to receive an Honorary Doctorate of Science.3

Highlights

Nov 21 · sambarnett.art
Sam Barnett's art
Jul 19 · le.ac.uk
Record-breaking artist and successful technology entrepreneur ...
May 8 · sixteen-nine.net
Children's Drawings Used To Generate Massive Public Digital ...
May 2 · outernet.com
BBC Children In Need Launches King Charles III Coronation Portrait ...
BBC Children In Need Launches King Charles III Coronation Portrait ...

Related Questions

What inspired Sam Barnett to transition from technology to art?
How did Sam Barnett's background in law influence his artistic career?
What was the process behind combining 16,000 sketches into the final portrait?
How did the public react to the Royally Big Portrait at Outernet London?
What other projects has Sam Barnett worked on since creating the Royally Big Portrait?
Sam Barnett
Sam Barnett, photo 1
Sam Barnett, photo 2
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Location

United Kingdom