Hilary

"Hilary"
December 2008
10" X 8"
Glass
NOT FOR SALE

This is Hilary Keithlin, a Montreal girl who divides her time between school and being an Improvist. This is a Kirk Lee Foon shot of her and the glass piece it inpired me to create. All colors are underneath the glass and the black is on top creating a mat/glossy contrast and some depth effect as well. Find out more about Kirk Lee Foon here.

So 1920

"So 1920"
December 2008
10" X 20"
Canvas

This is another piece I've made using a picture of Spencer Butt. He's just so off the wall with the way he delivers his poetry that he inspired this. The original photo is by someone unknown to me but who can be found here.

Glass Bob

"Glass Bob"
December 2008
16" X 12"
Glass

Last summer, I found 2 old window frames in the dungeon that is the space under my ground level apartment. I sanded down the wooden frames and cleaned the glass with the intention of painting something on them, but I could never find something worthwhile. I finally decided to use one of these to re-create this classic Bob Marley image. The picture doesn't show this as well as the real thing, but similar to the the previous glass paintings of Mark and Isabelle, the black portion is on top of the glass and everything else is underneath providing a gap effect between layers.

Mark and Isabelle

"Mark and Isabelle"
December 2008
10" X 8"
Glass
NOT FOR SALE

These are two portraits of my friends Mark and Isabelle on glass frames. Not easy to spot on the picture is that the paint is on both sides of the glass and thus provides a gap in between the black top and gold/white background.

Isabelle Menard is a radio host as well as stand up comedian and can be found at: http://www.isabellemenard.com
Mark Laporte is still definitely not a gangster and can still be found at: http://www.donnetamusique.com

Various Sin City Panels

"Various Sin City Panels"
December 2008

I'm not going to pretend to be an old school purist who's been down with Frank Miller since forever. Truth be told, I had never heard of him before I went to see the first Sin City movie. Blown away, I proceeded to read all 7 Sin City graphic novels within a week and have loved the style since.
Recently, I was bored and felt like making larger canvases of some panels I particularly liked. These are not pieces I consider "mine" since I took the images from Miller in their entirety, but I do consider them "mine" in the sense that I've given them life on canvas and hang them on my wall to provide inspiration and decoration.
The sizes are as follows:
Cliff Toss: 16" X 20"
Gas Can Toss: 8" X 16"
Hang Man: 16" X 8"

"Marv"
September 2008

This is the first Sin City piece I made for the same reason as the ones above: boredom and love of the style.

49

"49"
November 2008
22" X 28"

So Barack Obama won the election. But way... way... way... before Obama-mania and eveything that came with it, back in his underground days, one of my closest friends was already rooting for him... so I felt it fitting to make this painting of him and give it to him for his birthday a week after the election.
Take note that the symbol in the right hand corner is #49 from the I Ching (Book of Change) and represents "Revolution."
Also take note that I can't take all the credit for this one since it was a combined effort from myself and good friend Mark Gravel. Rather than give a link to Obama or the I Ching, I'd much rather shoot you off to Mark's website at: http://www.markgravel.com. A pleasure to work with, learn from, as well as snowboard with!

Spencer Butt

I have a new website!!

Please click this link to find more up to date work!

www.kevinmxdermott.com

Thank you!!

"Spencer Butt"
October 2008
16" X 20"

Spencer Butt is a poet from Toronto who is redefining what a poetry reading is one audience at a time. He came through Montreal a few times to feature at Throw Collective slams and has left everyone present, myself included (probably the most), changed forever. To see him on stage once is to want to see him again (and again). Find out more about this poet/amazing person at www.myspace.com/thirtysecondblurbs. Definitely not the poet from English class...

Morgan Smith

"Morgan Smith"
October 2008
6" X 36"

These 18 images were taken from an ad that featured Morgan Smith. The trick was originally shown on a two page spread.

Bow and Aesop

"Bow and Aesop"
August 2008
6" X 12"
Canvas
SOLD

This smaller piece of Aesop Rock was made while it was raining. I found a series of pictures of him online that were taken by someone who's not identified. There isn't much more to say about this one...

Shadow Box

"Shadow Box"
September 2008
12" X 6"

Saul Williams has always been one of a kind and has done too much to mention in such a small blog. Please see http://www.saulwilliams.com/ to find out more about this poet/movie maker/writer/rock star/.../.../...

Laughing at Ourselves

"Laughing at Ourselves"
August 2008
8" X 24"

This crowd photo was taken at one of the monthly poetry slams put on by Montreal based Throw Poetry Collective (www.throwcollective.com) of which I am a part of. Original picture was taken by Mathieu Jarry. See more of his excellent work at http://creativebasement.blogspot.com/

Speechless

"Speechless"
July 2008
Gifted to Sabrina

Sabrina is a very funny and all around awesome girl. She can be spotted on Much Music's "Videos on Trial" and in random cities doing stand up comedy among other places. Tastefully offensive and beautiful to boot, she (unbeknownst to her) inspired this deck of her being judged by paper onlookers. Check out http://www.sabrinajalees.com for more info about her awesomeness.

Gangster Mark

"Ganster Mark"
June 2008
NOT FOR SALE

Mark Laporte is obviously not a gangster, but he has, however, been the host of the radio show "Gangsters Modernes" on CISM 89.3 FM. The show plays a variety of French, English and instrumental hip hop that would otherwise probably not get any airplay. They have supported the local and all around independant scene for more than 5 years now and have always been known for bringing the newest and freshest hip hop music to the listeners ears. Being a good friend of mine, he provided me with this picture of him which I used to make this skateboard of him.

More information about the show can be found at http://gangstersmodernes.blogspot.com/

Renee

"Renee"
May 2008
NOT FOR SALE

Renee is an awesome girl from Toronto I came across on the metro who was carrying her long board with her as she was on vacation in Montreal. We got to talking and I proposed to customize her board for her. Here's the result.

Badu

I have a new website!!

Please click this link to find more up to date work!

www.kevinmxdermott.com

Thank you!!

"Badu"
July 2008

Erykah Badu is amazing... and doesn't really need me to tell you who she is... but just in case... have a look here: http://www.erykah-badu.com/

One Good Thing

"One Good Thing"
April 2008
SOLD

Ruby Jane is a Montreal DJ who spins a wide variety of funk, soul and old school hip hop. She is 1/2 of the DJ team Hop Scotch Players. These are twin decks that I made with these pictures of her. The quote is simply one that I've always loved and felt was fitting here. She has her ow blog which deals mostly with food and music and, trust me, she knows more than her share of both... it can be found at: http://passthepeasrubyjane.blogspot.com/

I Run My Own Company

"I Run My Own Company"
May 2008
SOLD

Buck 65 is the poster boy for DIY [hip hop] music. Being from Halifax, NS, he's made his own style of music for more than a decade before being known in his own country, let alone the rest of the world. Consistently living on the road peddling his own brand of music for long years, he finally has some of the fame and success he deserves. Many amazing one liners have come from his records and "I run my own company" is only one of them. I feel it represents him perfectly and is also an inspiration for any and every struggling artist. Here's the deck that came out of this. Find out more about him at http://www.buck65.com.

Geezer Manner

"Geezer Manner"

May 2008

Geezer Manner is Michael Berrigan, a DJ/Producer/Photographer/Director from Montreal who also happens to be one of my close friends. This is a picture he took of himself and the skateboard I made inspired by it.

See more of his amazing work at http://www.myspace.com/geezermanner.

Must not Sleep

"Must not Sleep"

May 2008
SOLD

I listen to a lot of hip hop music that has strong poetic value and one of my favorite artists of all time is Aesop Rock, a New York rapper relocated to San Francisco. The imagery he puts forth is in my opinion, unmatched, as is his sharply distorted view of day to day life. He has one of his most recognized early lyrics [taken from a movie] tattooed in two parts on both of his forearms which reads: "Must not sleep, must warn others." No more need be said. Find out more at http://www.myspace.com/aesoprockwins.

Welcome!

"I'll never have a blog..."

That's what I used to say... but I had a hard time trying to find arguments against a free website... so there...

Anyway... as the title of my blog says, I honestly believe that art has existed and will continue to exist without us... we are no more than the universe's artistic medium...

That being said... I concede to you that having a website that promotes my own art is ironic and/or contradictory and I've made my peace with it...

I work with stencils of any and every picture that inspires me whether it's a classic image, an unknown photo, my own snapshot or one provided by someone else... I started with broken skateboards as canvas because it represents one of my loves and I had easy access to a lot of them and later moved on to other types of materials depending on what I could get my hands on...

I also work mostly with black and white because I am color blind... I could have given a deep philosophical explanation about contrasts (I have one!) but I'd rather be honest and straightforward... I use color on occasion but rarely multiple colors simultaneously... I truly hope you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy creating it... Feel free to leave a comment whether it's positive or negative... Feel free to follow this blog or not... Feel free to contact me personally at p.summind@gmail.com if you'd like to make an offer on any one of the pieces posted here or if you're interested in having some custom work done... I'd love to make a unique portrait for you or give a fresh twist to your favorite poster or picture...

I will be posting new work here as it comes to life... unless otherwise specified, everything is up for sale...

So to make a long story short... WELCOME!