Inspired by Robert Altman’s 1973 film ‘The Long Goodbye,’ Dave McDermott latest paintings consider the private investigator/protagonist who mucks through complicated and broken lives to do his job. This saucer-eyed cat – made of swirls of blue and red yarn lined up over hot pink paint – bears witness to humanity’s flaws. (On view at GRIMM on the Lower East Side through March 11th.)
Brooklyn-based artist Dave McDermott’s ‘The Purgatorial Moment (with Piano)’ evokes dread or nostalgia, depending on how your childhood music lessons went. Floating blocks of color and the slanting line of a player’s back suggest a zone of intense concentration in a tiny house filled with the effort of music making. (At the Lower East Side’s Thierry Goldberg Gallery through June 2nd).
Dave McDermott, ‘The Purgatorial Moment (with Piano), oil, canvas, wax, 23K gold, yarn on panel, 2013.