Pat McDermott
1962
(Canada)
CANADIAN
Pat McDermott is a Canadian artist whose work inhabits a liminal visual space between concepts like abstraction and figuration. In his Sonnet series, unrecognizable shapes, forms and textures hauntingly allude to the world of nature and recognizable things.
Education
McDermott earned a BA in Sociology from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, and a Bachelor of Fine Art from York University in Toronto.
Technique
McDermott has worked with a range of materials and tools to create bodies of work that exist somewhere between painting, drawing, and sculpture. One series of reliefs was fashioned from bee’s wax on MDF; another was made by applying dozens of layers of gesso over the pieces of children’s puzzles. His Sonnet series is made from acrylic paint applied to plywood or MDF. The painting process results in vibrant colors and almost photorealistic details within the shapes. Though the image is unrepresentative of anything in particular, the hyper attention to detail suggests that it might be an enlarged photograph, perhaps of some microscopic worm, a hair, or maybe a plastic straw. Such details are intended to challenge the viewer, to inspire the viewer to ask questions about why it is so important to use language to describe the content of a work of art.
Inspiration
McDermott is interested in the failure of language to adequately describe the totality of the human condition. He associates words with representational images in art—both are outgrowths, or perhaps expressions, of the human need to explain and categorize what we experience. Guided by the belief that understanding relies on feelings and instincts that cannot be fully explained or categorized, McDermott sets out to create aesthetic objects that cannot be sensibly deciphered. The situation is further complicated when the work features materials or imagery that is concretely connected with everyday life, such as wood, wax, or segments of a puzzle. The viewer has a choice to either remain confused by the work, or make peace with the presence of the unknown.
Artist Quote
“The Sonnet paintings possess a photographic quality, but what they depict is not certain. This lack of obviousness raises questions: How are they made? What is being represented? [In these paintings] I have tried to depict the abstract with clarity— to explore a world that has not been seen. Because I have depicted a world that the viewer does not know, the viewer is free to really look.”
Exhibitions
McDermott has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions around Ontario.
Collections
In addition to private collections, his work is in the permanent collection of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston.
Galleries
Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, Canada
