Dennis McNett “Year of the Wolfbat” Swarming the
East Coast
Posted on | September 29, 2009 |
Gallery Tour Stops in Philadelphia Friday at Space 1026
According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2009 is the Year of the Ox, which said
that I would be winning the lotto around mid-year. Maybe I should have read the
“Year of the Wolfbat” instead. Dennis McNett seems to be having a rocking good
time.
The wild animals that Dennis “McMutt” McNett brings to the streets are ferocious and
savage and sometimes byzantine in carved detail. When you turn the corner and see one of
them plastered or, in the case of recent sculpture, pacing behind a chain-link fence, you are
excited by it’s raw rage; a black and white wheatpaste lino print of a snarling snow leopard
with jagged pointy incisers ready to rip chunks of flesh. Rarrrrhhh! McMutt is on a tear!
The “Year of the Wolfbat” tour began in New York in June and has flapped it’s webbed wings
across the US, swooping in for exhibitions, artist talks and workshops along the way. The
migratory flight of the Wolfbats has included shows at Fecal Face Dot Gallery in San
Francisco and Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles.
The swarming mass of wolfbats will next fly to the
city of Wolfbrotherly love, Philadelphia Space
1026 in Philadelphia (Thursday Oct. 2) with an
installation of print-derived sculpture and mural,
accompanied by unique and editioned works both
large and small.
A longtime head-bashing punk and metal music
fan, Dennis is also a professor at Pratt here in
Brooklyn, sharing his thousands of hours of
experience and mastery of craftsmanship with
aspiring artists of the new generation. An artist
and street artist, you’ll find his wild animal
kingdom wheatpastes in Brooklyn on the facade of
KCDC skate shop in Williamsburg, and in the
ongoing Willoughby Windows exhibit downtown.
You can also find his designs on sneakers, t-shirts, and skateboards.
Brooklyn Street Art: How many hours does it take to carve one of those giant 4′x8′ linotype
blocks?
Dennis McNett: If I have no distractions and lots of coffee it usually goes very quickly once I
have my drawing on the block.
Brooklyn Street Art: Is it possible to develop Carvel-Tunnel Syndrome?
Dennis McNett: You mean Carvel like the ice cream?….. I’m sure if you scoop too much you
could.
Brooklyn Street Art: There was recently a sighting of a prowling mountain cat in Bushwick.
Have you seen this ferocious feline behind a fence?
Dennis McNett: I have seen it but I think it was a snow leopard and just like the illusive and
mystical cat it is now nowhere to be found.
Brooklyn Street Art: Who are the five best heavy metal artists of all time?
Dennis McNett: Black Sabbath is timeless to me. Gwar is underrated for the amount of
creative energy put into their theatrics, longevity, and mastery of the mediums of story
telling, costume making, set design, character development, album cover art, comics, metal
music, etc… whether you like their aesthetic or not. Slayer!!! Motorhead!!! Death!!! This list
may change from day to day…. there are too many.
Brooklyn Street Art: Now that we are in the fourth quarter, how has the “Year of the
Wolfbat” been?
Dennis McNett: It was awesome to travel around and show work. I met a ton of really
amazing people and was able to invoke their wolfbat. The folks at Fecal Face and
Thinkspace were really generous and hospitable with their time and space. The Badlands
were intense. Good times.
Brooklyn Street Art: You have referred to the Wolfbat
as a spirit. Would you say that you are a spiritual man?
Dennis McNett: Wolfbats are spirits… they are kin to
the great wolf Fenris who was wrongfully bond by the
gods …. I started a sort of mythology of my own by
resurrecting Fenris. He was killed during Ragnarok
(the battle of the Gods and Giants) by Oden’s son
Vitar. I rewrote the ending where his sister Hel
resurrects Fenris and raises a new army. Wolfbats
wake the sleeping spirit of people who need to be
woken. That is their reason for coming into our
dimension and world.
Brooklyn Street Art: Your creatures are
violent and rageful. Should people be afraid of
you?
Dennis McNett: Absolutely not. I don’t see
my work as violent or rageful. I just see
these characters as very alive and expressive
in their gesture. I usually choose animals
with some mythology behind them or that
are mystical, misunderstood, or pack/family
oriented.
From the 1026 Space gallery:
“You can expect to see a loud psychedelic woodcut landscape covering several walls of the
gallery in which nature’s bass has been cranked up to 11. Duck your head walking in and
make way for an entire flock of hotheaded Wolfbats swooping overhead, not to mention the
supercharged eagles diving out of their path to let them through.” …as well as new wood
carved pieces, relief cut prints, masks, oversize tapestries, leopards with serpent tails, goat
heads wrapped in snakes, angry beasts, eagles fighting snakes, bats, and of course, Wolfbats.
This article can be found in its original contest at http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=4634