David Mcdermott Biography
David McDermott was born in 1952 in Hollywood, California and studied at Syracuse University from 1970 to 1974. In New York he met Peter Mcgough who would be his artistic partner from now on.
Known for their work in painting, photography, sculpture and film, they currently divide their time between Dublin and New York City. McDermott & McGough emerged from the East Village art scene of the 1980s, alongside contemporaries such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Peter Halley and Jeff Koons. Thanks also to the support of the artist Julian Schnabel, they have been accepted by established galleries and art dealers.
They are famous for their use of alternative historical photographic techniques, particularly cyanotype, gum bichromate, platinum and others. Among the topics they address are art and popular culture, religion, medicine, advertising, fashion and sexual habits. In 2017, the duo inaugurated the Oscar Wilde Temple in Greenwich Village, intended as a non-secular sacred space for the LGBT community.
Their works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Center Pompidou and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. A retrospective of their career was hosted by the Provincial Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Oostende, in Belgium, in 1997.
