We catch up with NYC based artist and Pratt professor as he travels the country showing his work. He stops at Fecal Face for show this Saturday 7/18! Dennis McNett mini-interview We did an interview with print-maker, skateboard graphics-maker, teacher, and all around excellent fellow Dennis McNett a while back, so on the occasion of his one night only solo show at Fecal Face Dot Gallery we asked him about more recent goings on.

Dennis's work has always been striking and, more often than not, visceral and violent, but his intensely detailed depictions of animals (both legendary and actual), withered human anatomy, and his own personal mythology (drawn largely from Norse themes) seem to have less to do with death and brutality than with an affirmation of life.

Dennis is also one of the most prolific artists currently working in what many see as a tedious medium, and while our focus may be increasingly drawn to the instant gratification of digital media it's a welcome counterpoint to see that there are still folks out there laboring for hundreds of hours over table-sized blocks of wood with razor-sharp knives gripped tightly in their fists. -Andreas Trolf

You teach printmaking at Pratt in New York. Is there a strong interest in printmaking these days with the students. Has its popularity grown or declined from your time there?

I don't want to talk about Pratt. I'm on vacation. The best part of teaching is the students.

So you're traveling across the US, putting on shows along the way with one coming up July 18th at Fecal Face Dot Gallery. How's the traveling going? What can people expect at your show?

It feels real good being back on the road. Good times so far. I'm fucking siked to be going back to SF. I'm bringing several new one-of-a-kind wood carvings, collages, and prints to Fecal Face Dot Gallery. Sizes range from 4 foot by 8 foot tapestry-size woodcuts to smaller 8" x 11" lino-cut prints, and print prices ranging from $10 to $1500. Editions of prints will be on hand for cash and carry and the show will only be up Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.

Any good highlights from your travels thus far?

Yes!! I did a visiting artist gig in Elgin, IL and had a blast with the kids there making stuff. Hung out with Tom Huck at Evil Prints in St. Louis, which is always good times and good people. And I'm fixin' to leave South Dakota where a did a workshop at Frogmans teaching people how to make masks; we did a small parade at the end with smoke bombs, masks, and noise makers. Now I'm head towards the badlands to get my batteries charged back up and speak with the spirit of the wolfbat.

Do you limit the amount of prints you'll make of a single image from a block?

Most all of my prints are limited editions. I do run some images that are not numbered which are usually small images and very cheap so that anyone can walk away from my show with something if they want.

You do original drawings as well. What percentage of your work is prints versus drawings?

I'd say 90% of what I do is prints. I love carving, the mark it makes, and the ability to make multiples of the work keeps it affordable. I've been doing quite a bit of one-of-a-kind stuff lately too...[and] I also use my images in collage/drawings and 3D work.

Your show is titled Year of the Wolfbat. What is the wolfbat and why is this its year?

The wolfbat is a spirit that can be called upon to conjure up high amounts of good energy and invoke a primal fury in anyone who calls upon him. It is the great giant Fenris resurrected. It is this year that the wolfbat rises and shows his presence and awakens the sleeping spirit.

You have your art on a vans shoe. How did that come about?

I credit everything back to Antihero and Julien Stranger allowing me to do boards for them. That opened my work up to that audience. Vans was really awesome to work for. They didn't ask me to do anything different from I already do and just seem to be good folks.

Year of The Wolfbat!
Dennis McNett solo show
Saturday July 18 (7-10pm)
@Fecal Face Dot Gallery
66 Gough St. San Francisco {moscomment}

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