Feature Friday - Malik McKoy
Name
Malik McKoy
Pronouns
he/him/his
Bio
Malik McKoy (b. 1995, Surrey, B.C.) is an emerging, multidisciplinary artist whose practice consists of painting and digital media. McKoy attempts to create a visual world that spans across both practices. The subject matter of the work is the banality of his personal anecdotes while, through material choices, highlighting the respectability politics queer and Black people must opt into. These themes are juxtaposed against a vibrant palette and playful compositions. McKoy is currently based in Montreal pursuing his MFA degree at Concordia University. This April, McKoy will be showing all new work at his solo exhibition at Patel Brown’s Montreal gallery. Until late March, his project, Speed Run, is currently on view at the Thames Art Gallery in Chatham-Kent, ON. McKoy has previously exhibited work at Trinity Square Video, Susan Hobbs Gallery, among others. Artist residencies include: CO/CREATE (World Creation Studio, Montreal, CA), Hypercity (Long Winter, Toronto, CA), and the RBC Emerging Artist Program (Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, CA). McKoy also currently has public murals installed in Ontario, Canada (Pickering and Vaughan).
Instagram
@maalikmckoy
Website
malikmckoy.com
Where in Montreal are you located?
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
What do you love about your neighborhood?
I like that it's detached from the chaos of the city but still close enough to not feel too isolated. I also appreciate the abundance of parks and greenery. Walks in the summer are quite tranquil. In many ways, it reminds me of where I grew up.
What’s your favourite art space in Montreal and why?
My favourite art space in Montreal are the interstitial spaces in the streets where one can spot graffiti or mural art. These spaces are accessible to anyone to observe or offer their contributions and are constantly evolving - a curation that drives itself. I find inspiration looking at graffiti as I walk or gaze out of the window during my commute. It informs how I approach figuration in my work, specifically developing a character that can be recognizable no matter how I choose to iterate it. That's why my favourite art spaces here are the nooks and crannies that are often overlooked while in transit.
Describe your art practice in your own words.
My art practice consists of both painting and digital media, which inform each other as I cycle back and forth between the two.
The scale of my paintings range from small to large (10” to 72” long or wide), and are made with oil and acrylic via airbrush on stretched textiles. A recent development in my practice is the manipulation of the surface; adding seams and stitches to the fabric, which are then used as prompts for the composition. Drawn with immediacy, the painted compositions are both abstract and representational with a colour palette driven by intuition.
What draws me to airbrush as a tool are the varying amount of haze I can achieve depending on the proximity of the tool to the canvas. I’m able to hide images in plain sight. The grain of the particles adds texture and atmospheric depth while the surface itself remains flat. Using an airbrush to apply acrylic paint over fresh oil paint also allows me to flip the conventions of painting on its head with a disregard for concerns of conservation.
In my digital practice, I use 3D modeling and sculpting software to create my figures and scenes. In the video game industry, these software are often used to achieve hyperrealism and enforce binary coded gender ideals. The figures I make with these tools are often androgynous, or simply genderless, with various mutations from one work to the next. The forms are often rounded and plushy, and the surfaces cold with a plastic-like sheen. While there are different characters that span across the work, they are all iterations of the same entity. That entity being my internal monologue. The scenes these characters occupy are influenced by low-budget stage play productions, emphasizing the artifice of the medium.
With my work, I hope to contribute to the expansion of queer perspectives in the African diaspora within contemporary art.
What mediums do you work with?
In my painting practice, I work with acrylic and oil paint on textiles. In my digital practice, I mainly work with 3D modeling software such as Cinema 4D and zBrush. Outside of these two disciplines, I have been dabbling in working with textiles, specifically constructing wearables as a hobby.
Describe your current project.
I am currently working on my solo exhibition that will be at Patel Brown's Montreal Gallery, opening April 23. This exhibition will be all painting. The work is mostly autofictional, bringing the mundane into the realm of fantasy through world building. Humans, animals, and objects hybridize and engage on a lateral level, dissolving hierarchies and classifications that exist in the real world. The scale of the works range from small to large and the colours are vibrant. The main tool I'm using in most of the works is an airbrush, which allows me to achieve atmospheric images that play with your perception of depth and focus.
Where do you find your inspiration?
I find that cartoons have influenced that way I exaggerate the banal nature of my everyday lived experience. Many of the works are reflections of relationships, personal desires, and happenings I observe in public that I think have charm. The cartoons I grew up watching also largely inspire how I approach figuration and the different ways I transform my characters. The exploration of surface manipulation is derived from my interest in fashion and its meticulous construction. I find interest in the tension and perseverance of a vulnerable material tugging at itself at the seams, while the image painted overtop is uninterrupted.
Describe your creative process.
My process varies from work to work. Sometimes I start with a thumbnail sketch with just a graphite pencil in my sketchbook. I then translate that image onto the canvas. At other times, the process of constructing the surface act as prompts for the image I compose.
What led you to pursue visual art?
I loved drawing since I was very young and took art class all throughout high school. After high school, I enrolled in an architecture program at Ryerson (now known as Toronto Metropolitan University). I quickly learned that it wasn't for me and that I was denying myself of what I really wanted to pursue, which was visual art. I realized that it isn't worth being miserable in an occupation that isn't fulfilling and made a promise to be honest with myself, always. I dropped out of Ryerson within the first year and enrolled in the painting program at OCAD University the following year.
Is there any medium you don’t currently work with, but would like to explore?
Lately, I have been considering performance art. I'm very shy, so the idea of performing in front of a crowd is frightening. Yet the medium is still alluring to me for reasons I don't know. In recent years, I've been challenging myself to step out of my comfort zone in many aspects of my life, so I think that could be why. My first performance would be in costume and under an alias to remain anonymous and fully enjoy the process.
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