"Mark McDermott"

The loneliness expressed in Mark McDermott's reticent paintings is only revealed to those with genuine interest, and even then, perhaps there is never full disclosure. The paintings do not want to burden the viewer with their sadness and so everything is done to assure that things are okay. Landscapes and still lifes are often used to obliquely express emotion and the occasional female is taciturn. One wavers in being convinced that everything is fine, but McDermott remains resolute. He is unsure how much of his pain he wants to display, but is inclined to think that the attention would not be worth the tastelessness of being effusive. This courageous acceptance of the inevitability of loneliness without fanfare is heartbreaking.

"We all have to realize that it is our individuality that makes us beautiful. It is also this individuality that can make us feel like outsiders," McDermott says. This problem of beauty's prerequisite of loneliness is evident in his work. Pears and trees seem solitary even when in a group and perhaps without this disconnection, the beauty of McDermott's paintings would not be as profound. One is reminded that creating beauty requires solitude and in this way, art perhaps exacerbates one's loneliness, impelling one to create more art.

-Eugene Hwang