Batman!

I have a new website!!

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

www.kevinmxdermott.com

Thank you!!

Batman!
Mixed Medium on Recycled Canvas
48" X 24"
July 2011

I used to hate Batman...
Now he's my favorite.
The recent movies had nothing to do with it...
Things change dude.

[...]

Reservoir Dogs

I have a new website!!

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

www.kevinmxdermott.com

Thank you!!

Reservoir Dogs
Mixed Medium on Canvas
24" X 30"
July 2011

In 1994, a friend of mine, Tone, and his best friend were in France after a trip to Amsterdam and had some time to kill before their flight home. With them, was a friend whom they brought along from Amsterdam - Mr. Brown - who couldn't make the flight home with them. So they took Mr. Brown for a quick walk to give him a proper send off and then they were off to the movies. They decided to check out a movie from an up and coming American director who had been making a lot of noise in film festivals around the world with his first full length effort: Reservoir Dogs.

Still buzzing from their farewell to Mr.Brown, they sat down and enjoyed the now-classic opening scene for the first time. Immediately after the breakfast discussion about Madonna and tipping and such, once the title came up, Tone's best friend got up, disoriented, and said: "Wow! That was amazing... I definitely got my money's worth with that movie." It was only after Tone explained to him that it had only been 5-10 minutes and that the movie hadn't really started that he sat back down to actually watch the movie.

*********

This brief anecdote, I think, is a great testament to the writor/director work of Quentin Tarantino and his complete mastery of natural dialogue. Anyone who may have tried their hand at writing will agree that natural dialogue is one of the most difficult things to simulate... and Tarantino makes it look easy.

This is my tribute to this classic film.

Escorting Superman

Escorting Superman
Silkscreen on Cardboard
10.5" X 18.5"
April 2011

I've started this blog post 4 times and have erased what I'd written each time...

It's very difficult, nearing impossible for me to talk about this silkscreen poster. I can't find words that do justice to how it felt for me to watch over the person who watched over me my whole life in his last hours. The ultimate role reversal.

So I'll use an old literary device: show rather tell.

Naturally, I don't think this piece can speak to anyone quite as much as it does to me. But it's possible that some people will recognize themselves in this one... So I share this with you.

*******

Plus que des Barbeaux

This piece is part of a poster expo called "Plus que des Barbeaux." It's currently up in Lachine at 2901 St-Joseph. The place is open for visitors on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I went by yesterday and must say, if you're into silkscreen stuff... it's worth a visit. It's on until June 19th.

There are 34 different, original posters [6-7 copies of each have been made for the show], all of which can be purchased for 20$. For the copies that will not have been purchased during the show, you may contact me [for mine - above] or the individual artists since we are all being given the remaining copies post-expo.

All the posters were designed by the individual artists are then silkscreen'd by the good people at Moniker Designs.

Here are, in no particular order, some of my favorites from the show:

Clio Honig:

Jason Wasserman:

Earthcrusher:

Bez:

Sniper:

Jimmy Baptiste [co-organizer]:

As usual, I hope this finds you well.

Don't forget people, father's day is coming up.
If you still have your dad... call him, visit him, hang out with him...
It means the world to him.

[...]

Coin de Bullion [feat. The Making Of...]

I have a new website!!

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

www.kevinmxdermott.com

Thank you!!

Coin de Bullion

Mixed Medium on Recycled Canvas
36" X 36"
May 2011

What is recycled canvas? Simply put, a canvas that was once something else... and now is something new. A few years ago, I was asked to participate in a friend's photo shoot for school in which I portrayed Jesus Christ... I know! Some of the photos came out pretty sick and I had decided to make a piece with one of them. The canvas was plastered with torn out bible pages that created an interesting background but the idea never really came together visually in the end so the piece was never shown to anyone except close friends of mine who came to my place. Since then it's been sitting under a bed sheet waiting, waiting.

Of late, I've been tightening my budget belt a lot more than usual and, as luck would have it, I'm recently REALLY into the concept of re-using old canvases that have been gathering dust in my studio space [how convenient, right? Right.].

I've also been asked by people to show a bit more of what goes into making one of my pieces and I figured this one would be as good as any to show you! So without any further ado... I present to you:

"The making of Coin de Bullion"
[The semi-abridged version]

Here's the original picture I took while out on a dog walk [pretty random, I'd say!]:

So here we go!

I ripped off as much of the bible paper as possible but since it was glued on there something wicked I couldn't get it all off and so there are still some "good book" remains lingering. I sanded it down to give if a nice smooth feel so that I wouldn't be too lumpy.

Then the actual painting could begin! Rollers and acrylics first.

Followed by some spray paint fade for the sky.

Skip ahead a step [creation of the main background beige-ish layer] and right into the second layer stencil which will be used for the white highlights [ironically done first!].

Before:

After:

Next I created 2 new stencils for the following 2 shades of brown [only the first of these 2 layers is shown below]:

It's all in the details. Notice the cross-walk sign is the only thing that's not blue or brown...
Why?
Why not?

And finally one layer of black [some pictures missing]:

And... the final unveiling:

So there you have it!

A step-by-step view into what makes one of my paintings come to life... I hope you've enjoyed the ride and will share with your friends and family.

This painting as well as all of my most recent, unreleased work can be seen for the whole month of June at Studio Bizz Iberville [2488 Mont-Royal Est]. Keep your eyes and ears open for a mid-month vernissage or maybe even a
"taking down the art show" event!
Who knows!

So as usual, thanks for playing along and I wish you all a great, great time.
Until we meet again!

[...]

Snow Shoes

Snow Shoes

Spray Paint Stencil'd on Canvas
20" X 10"
April 2011

I was walking my dog in the West Island this past winter and noticed something very only-in-Canada-like: Sneakers strung to a wire covered in snow. How winter-gangster of us Canucks! I took a picture for fun but didn't think I'd make anything with it... and yet, here we are...

Also, I just found out that Blogger is offering a stats service that shows me cool stuff like how many people are viewing my blog and what they're clicking to get here and so on and so forth... super excited to find out I have readers from Canada, US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, Romania, Switzerland, Italy and Russia!

HOLY FLATTERED!!

It would also appear that the best source for links to new articles is from Twitter and via Facebook... so I really encourage anyone who's Facebook-ish or Tweet-friendly to follow me by clicking the thingy's below:

@KevinMxDermott
Kevin McDermott's Facebook page

On that note, I leave all of you wonderful, international lovers to go on with your busy, busy day of Sunday'ing and stuff.
Enjoy it until it bursts!

[...]