Exhibiting Artists:
Doug McQueen: from an interview on the Fortress American website
“It’s a good chance that familiar faces in my work have a history. If only in my brain. Characters that I doodled out of boredom in my 8th grade math class still come to life in my sketchbooks today. Their looks have developed over the years, and possibly gotten worse, depending on what kind of trials and tribulations I’ve put them through. By now, these characters are carrying baggage I never dreamt of bestowing on them at the time of their creation. I still regularly create fresh characters that come out of that same 8th grade brain. The process is: think of something fun and easy to draw and maybe it’ll lead to some idea or attitude you’re trying to convey, or understand. However, if I end up drawing some new character more than just once, it’s a pretty sure bet that they will soon join my roster of friends/fiends on paper. Then they’re stuck with ME.
“Drawing myself in horrible/awkward situations is the funniest thing for me. When I really want to loosen up my brain and try to shake off all the day-to-day stuff that fogs up my creativity, I’ll draw myself looking stupid. Food running down my chin, getting caught in a ritual blood letting, crashing on my bike; I become my own ultimate comic relief actor. Plus, when people see the drawings, they go “oh, shit! That’s your head with a hyena body?” And then they laugh, too.”
Doug McQueen
