David McDowell. Art and colours from the U.K.

Michelle Daniels: Where do you do your work?
David McDowell: As an artist I work everywhere. Art is all about observing; visually and mentally documenting ideas. If I’m photographing a model I prefer it to be in their surroundings. My art plays on the notion of taking a private moment and making it public so it is essential I capture a facet of the models private life. The actual paintings and studies are carried out in my home studio in Limavady.

MD: Do you work from life, photographs or imagination?
DM: I use photographs as a reference point. I think it is important not to lend yourself to the photo but allow your artist licence to manipulate the photo for the aesthetic purposes of the painting.

MD: What moves you most in life,either to inspire or upset you?
DM: I’m inspired by a lot of things. My current investigation explores the qualities cinematic imagery can bring to a painting. Films are a big influence but I always create my own faux film stills to avoid plagiarising and copyright laws. Contemporary and historical art inspires me. I’m interested in sculptures, paintings, films, photos and Degas work for the misogynistic approach which I try to reverse in my portrayal of the feminine. I’m fascinated by the natural. Curiosity inspires me. Sometimes a subject can interest you for an unknown reason and it is this reason that makes it so intriguing.

MD:Where do you feel Art is going?
DM: Mark Rothko once said, ‘Art is a journey into the unknown.’ Painting had gone off the radar and was dismissed as an obsolete form of art for a while but contemporary figurative painting is once again becoming a dominant part of canonical art. Video art has made the headlines recently with regards to the first time the royal academy, London (2009) dedicated an entire room to it. Art will always evolve and regress and movements will be reappraised and shunned.

MD: What do you think is the role of the Artist in society?
DM: The role of the artist is to question society and make society question itself.

MD: What technique do you use?
DM: I use a variety of techniques and materials to create an overall effect. Techniques include Scumbling, Dry brushing, applying and extracting, wet on to wet, glazing, rendering, using closely valued hues, washes etc. Materials I use include, Michael Harding Artist Quality Oils, pure turpentine, brushes, rags, sponges, palette knife, and masking tape. I usually start with an undercoat of venetian red followed by the grid format of drawing. I initially work with the oils using the mannerisms of watercolour painting allowing the canvas to breath. It is easier to achieve a sense of depth and light this way instead of suffocating the surface with thick paint straight away. A lot of my technique involves drying and building up thin layers so I would normally be working on 4-6 paintings at a time.

MD: Which is more important to you, the subject of your painting, or the way it is executed?
DM: Both are equally important. I am very much interested in the formal concerns of the painting; light, composition, colour, tone, space, balance, etc while conceptually I look at the notion of making private life public and the idea of challenging spectatorship.

MD: Do you prefer a smooth perfect technique or a more energetic expressive technique,and why?
DM: In a painting, it is not the perfect or expressive technique I am interested in but the visual aesthetics of the formal concerns mentioned above. All paintings, regardless of technique should incorporate these elements.

MD: Who influences your Art?
DM: Edgar Degas, Pierre Bonnard, Eric Fischl, Alyssa Monks, Damien Loeb, Marlene Dumas, Edward Hopper, Andrei Tarkovsky, Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe to name but a few.

MD: Do you work certain hours of each day or only when you are inspired to work?
DM: I work as much as possible, at times working through the night if I have a show coming up. I seem to work best early in the morning or late at night when I’m fatigued and less alert to my surroundings. Saying that, I work relentlessly throughout the day as well.

MD: What did you do when you first left art college, How did you survive?
DM: Luckily Canvas Galleries, Belfast signed me soon after my degree show and have shown my work there ever since but it takes building a reputation and constant promotion to be successful. An artist has an unstable income. I sold 13 paintings in 3 days once but unless you have the status of Damian Hirst, that won’t happen every week. You will find a lot of artists will initially need financial security to pursue the life of an artist and for many, art isn’t their main income taking the current state of the economy into consideration. The best advice I could give would be to paint, promote and be persistent. For every 10 galleries you approach at the start of your career, maybe only 1 will respond and they aren’t backward in being honest. Network relentlessly and make yourself known in the industry. Always have an upcoming show to accompany your current show. Beware of falling in to the commercial mindset and forgetting your artist morals. Create what you want to create regardless of selling. It will come in time.

Portrait of David McDowell (photography by Chris McFetridge)