Welcome to “MacDowell Land”.  Where you hop aboard the creative rollercoaster of media culture, social themes, candy colored nightmares, and wity celebrity humor.  Joining us from Virginia, USA, come along and journey through the conversation between STAMP and David MacDowell.

STAMP: Introduce Yourself. What is something you want the world to know about you?
Dave: My name is Dave MacDowell and I’m primarily a “gallery artist”, although I do a lot of  private commissions, and freelance work for record labels and publishing companies. I’ve been going at this professionally hard-core for close to 3 years now, and it’s been quite a ride!

STAMP: When did you become interested in Art?
Dave: I grew up worshipping illustration and animated art. Mad, Cracked and Heavy Metal mags. Classic Disney animation had a profound effect on me. I would obsessively study the illusion of line and color, deeply amazed at how art could imitate life. I was a geeky little fat kid freaky for the projected image on a movie screen. Just the varying grains and translucent textures of light, and how it refracted like a powerful  living entity unto itself.

STAMP: What is your medium of choice, and why?
Dave: I paint with Liquidex Acrylics on canvas, and I’m slowly teaching myself oils. The art world primarily views Oil Paints as the medium given by the hand of God him/herself, but you can get the same effects with acrylics. They’re fast and forgiving, and have their own set of challenges. Once you lay out that palate, you start balancing the immediacy of drying time, humidity, moisture and flow of the paint. It’s like chemistry intertwined with creative intent.

STAMP: Did you study art in school? If so which one, and how was that experience?
Dave: High school yeah, and I did alitte collage, but  school wasn’t helping me build a portfolio, so I got a job drawing comics and I split. I don’t condone dropping out of anything, but was 18 and so self absorbed with being cool. My life mirrored the movie “Dazed And Confused” in a lot of ways. I was a charismatic kid with a hot girlfriend, a cool car, tons of friends and just consumed with being a total goofball. I wish that I had some form of guidance, a mentor or some form of teaching, but my skills were always advanced and teachers always stood back to watch me drown. I totally admire people who can see beyond the façade of youth and guide kids on a better path, because I surely needed a kick in the head that never happened.

STAMP: How were you able to take your love for art and make it a career?
Dave: After the comic books I started getting involved with property management and real estate, but I always wanted to do it full time, and always painted portraits on the side. I finally took the chance and committed myself to see how far my talent could grow. The words “genius” and “artist” are so over used that they loose their meaning, and I never felt like I had the right to call myself “artist”, ever. Not until I had a solo at Thinkspace Gallery in 2009, and achieved a level to be satisfied that I wasn’t abusing the privilege of the label. If you love and respect art as deep as you love your momma, than money and business are tough cookies to swallow. I admittedly suck at business because I’m a push over that never ever says “No” to anyone. I’ve had CEO’s say” You’ll only get so far in the art world with your humility Dave” and if that’s true, than so be it. I’m doing what I love, and loving what I do. I’ll leave it to better business people to warp and exploit the image for mass consumption. I’ve been blessed/lucky early on, to have people way smarter than I allow me into their circle. Now I say don’t just dream big, but dream Bigger, because all of your hopes will come true and then what? You’ve got to take your dreams to the next level.

STAMP: You have a very recognizable style. Do you find it challenging to infuse this signature look without conforming?
Dave: I couldn’t change my style if I tried, but I can expand it as far as I can. I’m always in the process of studying and trying out new techniques and ways to enchant my vision into reality. It’s so damn depressing to see so many artists get lazy, imprisoned and fearful to break out their signature comfort zones, and I don’t know why that happens. Maybe it’s the money, gallery/collector pressures or whatever. Call me a brat but I want my eyeballs to explode with new directions.  There are no artists that I respect more, than the ones that have the massive guts to challenge their audience with new and unexpected paths in their career. I love Norman Rockwell, but if he busted out of his Americana, put something funky in that big ass pipe of his and did an album cover for Black Sabbath? Damn, he’d be my ultimate art idol.

STAMP: Can you remember the first piece that you did, and what inspired you to do it?
Dave: The first acrylic that I did was a mock 70’s blacksploitation movie poster called “Crack Baby”. It was a little mutated baby dressed as a gangster pimp. I wish I still had that one!

STAMP: Can you tell any interesting stories about specific pieces, artists or projects that you’ve worked on?
Dave: I’ll regale the group with my exploits when the party’s over, because I’m just so bent on the future. I was just thinking earlier how weird this art life is. I don’t believe in coincidence, and if I look back it all seems like everything happens for a reason. As a kid I always wanted to be involved with art, film and animation, and lately I’ve had collectors who do just that. I’m starting to work closely with some that can bring my images and stories to life into animated form. Never say Never in life, because anything that could happen will.

STAMP: When a client approaches you to take on a project, what factors enter your decision to take it (besides money)?
Dave: I never say no to a project, big or small. The big money projects allow me to take on the smaller ones, and if the client is passionate about the possibilities, than it just makes the experience all the more sweet.  I’ve learned to pace my life and work where I can do 5 projects at once without getting soul drained. It’s allowing me to grow stronger, and nearly military disciplined, which is ironic because I’m soft you could poke a stick through me.

STAMP: Are there any clients that you wish to work with that you haven’t already?
Dave: Clients come to me, and I don’t need a corporate name as a stepping-stone to advance my thing. Being your own franchise, I guess its smart to always be open to anyone that’s down with an original better plan. I’ve tried to model my work ethic on The Disney Corporation, because I guess I’m my own best slave laborer. Badda Bing!

STAMP: What have been your favorite projects to work on to date? Why?
Dave: I’ve thrown myself so deep into everything, that every project’s been a labor of love. I worked for Random House recently, but I look at it a supplying a great writer friend with some cool art to be proud of for her first book. It’s all about making people happy, and if someday the smiles turn upside down, I’m screwed.

STAMP: What are your challenges as an artist?
Dave: I live for any and all, and embrace the new one’s no matter how nasty they wanna be. Call me “Hitchcock Paranoid”, but sometimes it seems like everything’s a test, and it’s your perspective of how it’s all approached always makes the monster friendly. The corny old saying “If it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger” will always get you through the rain. Every time.

STAMP: What is the experience like working in galleries?
Dave: Galleries provide the stage for the performer to mold and execute their craft. I’ve never had a bad experience with a Gallery, and in the past 2 years I’ve worked with over two dozen class act establishments. Maybe its karma and sales that kept them happy, or maybe they just dig that I never complain. Group shows have usually always been my thing, but next year I’m focusing on creating various solo bodies of work. Instead of playing in the orchestra, I’m excited to have my own big spotlight finally. I think the meat has been cooked long enough for the pack of wolves to start chasing my ass. Bring it on, Wolfie!

STAMP: Have you ever created an amazing piece by mistake?
Dave: There are no mistakes in life I don’t think? With some painting’s, I’ve gotten so close and bent on details, that I’ve often stepped back and realized that I’ve done some subconscious maneuvers where complete narratives were altered for the better. “Happy accidents” I guess we’ll call them, and they don’t come as often as they should if you ask me.

STAMP: What role do you feel the Internet has on art? Positive or negative?
Dave: Both. More art can be seen on a computer, where people wouldn’t have the opportunity and venue to see it otherwise. But man there’s nothing like breathing the space of experiencing art live, though. Computers pasteurize, compress and squeeze the juicy goodness of music, art and literature right out. To live on mp3s, and to never have experienced the intimately rich highs and lows of sound coming from the needle in a record, is kinda heartbreaking. To never get close to a painting so breathtakingly beautiful just smacks of a sick tease!

STAMP: Do you feel like your work is evolving?
Dave: The art has always been bigger than myself. It has been my saving grace in this life riddled with impurity and failure. The art demands that I provide nourishment and shelter for its existence, or it’ll get all parasitic and drain off of my life force. Art needs to be respected as a living entity unto itself, and to me proves the existence of a higher power. What human ever created anything that never rusted, wrinkled or faded away? Art lives forever.

STAMP: Do you agree with the overall objective of STAMP Magazine? Why or Why Not?
Dave: Yes! Thanks again for the opportunity!!!!

To see more of Dave’s work visit his website at http://www.macdowellstudio.com.