Malik McKoy
Malik McKoy (b. 1995, Surrey, B.C.) is an emerging, multidisciplinary artist whose practice consists of painting and digital media. He received his BFA degree from OCAD University in Toronto. Straddling the line between analog and digital, McKoy attempts to create a visual world that encompasses both practices. The subject matter of the work is a reflection of the banal qualities of the every day, translated through a vibrant and playful lens. McKoy recently relocated to Montreal from Ajax, ON in pursuit of his MFA degree at Concordia University.
This spring, McKoy is a resident of World Creation Studio’s CO/CREATE residency program. McKoy has previously exhibited work at Trinity Square Video, Susan Hobbs Gallery, and the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, among others. McKoy also currently has public murals installed in Ontario, Canada (Pickering and Vaughan).
My painting process has simplified a lot and doesn’t follow a specific set of steps. Lately, I’ve been using an airbrush paired with manual brushwork to create my paintings. The compositions and imagery themselves are often references to pop culture, and at other times they’re inspired by mundane moments in life. Sometimes it starts out with a quick thumbnail doodle in my sketchbook, which is then translated to canvas on a larger scale. Once I have my image, I lay my colour ground with either spray paint or washes of acrylic paint. I generally block out forms using acrylic paint and add details using the airbrush. In terms of materials, I mostly paint on stretched canvas but sometimes paint on thinner cotton fabrics.
In regards to my digital 3D modelling works, Cinema 4D and Zbrush are the tools I use for the bulk of the projects. Similarly to my paintings, compositions sometimes start out as doodles in my sketchbook and are then realized within the software.
