Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave McClinton.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
When I was in college I had the “fork in the road” moment of choosing studio art or graphic design as my career path. I have been a graphic designer for 25 years. I chose practicality over uncertainty. I always knew I’d find my way back to art and through the current cultural landscape, I did. My current method of work started out as an exercise in defeating creative blocks. I soon realized I had something to say visually, artistically, and culturally. My work is under the direct influence of my career as a graphic designer. I’m either decorating with landscapes or speaking on cultural issues with human figures and faces.
Please tell us about your art.
My work can be categorized as digital collage. I use family photos, found images, and my own face to create unique, invented identities. The work also features textures culled from the hundreds of iPhone photos I take weekly. I combine my love of photography, art and graphic design to create works that speak to the viewer by communicating something specific and obvious but also harboring subtexts that require repeated viewing or discussion.
I want to illustrate the life-cycle of the inner life of a black person. From innocent to informed. From recklessly defiant to determined. How the weight of American history can either crush you or harden you. And, how either result often has to be hidden from view just to get through the day. The anger of the African-American community is often portrayed as a threat. The anger of “traditional’ communities is depicted as righteous. This paradigm feeds stress and despair back into black lives and thus stokes the fires we try to simultaneously hide and harness.
In the African American community, we are rediscovering our history that has not been fully illustrated. It’s my job as visual communicator to review historical information and inform the community by bringing these concepts to life and help visually define our identity. And to distribute these stories about the strengths and trials of the African American community.
My work as a graphic designer has been to communicate quickly and efficiently through logo and branding work. That economy of message can be applied to art.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
Both local and national issues, while heightened by the internet, are not all that different from our recent past. Injustice, proliferation of beauty standards, cultural appropriation, and America’s legacy of racial inequity. I think my work, it’s ethos anyway, could have existed seventy years ago. The role hasn’t changed. But the opportunity technology presents us with has made it possible for that role to be more effective.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My website is davemcclinton.com. I post finished pieces there and my Instagram feed is @mcclinton. Some finished works are there but a large percentage of IG posts are of works in progress. Supporting my art can be as simple as engaging me in conversation about the work via social media. My website offers a few platforms on which to reach out.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.davemcclinton.com
- Email: dave@dmdesigninc.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/mcclinton
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davemcclinton.art
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dmdesigninc
Image Credit:
Dave McClinton
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