Dan McCarthy

Dan Mccarthy has quickly earned a large fan base thanks to his stunning prints covering everything from the abstract to the mysterious. A dark village with only one lit window, a mirror-still lake studded with stars, a lone traveller walking through the woods carrying a flashlight, skeletons of humans (and dinosaurs) providing life to plants and trees above. In addition to his work for clients and art galleries, McCarthy started a print club several years ago for which he personally designs and produces a limited-edition piece for members each month.

‘ I started making art at a very early age ... probably as early as I can remember. My mother is an artist/musician, and we were always doing something creative in the household. I continued to be creative throughout my teenage years and attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston after high school. While at school, making art really became a part of my everyday life, and I experimented with all sorts of printmaking and other forms of making art. I really enjoyed screen printing and I took what I learned at school to continue to make prints from my home studio. Ten years later, I've continued printing and feel really lucky that I can make a living doing something that I really love.

I love creating a subtle story within a piece. From a distance, I want it to look just like a simple landscape ... but, when you take a closer look, you can see there is something funny or dramatic going on. I think I'm drawn to nature because I love being out in the woods and like to try to capture that feeling in my art.

The drawing usually takes about two to three days (maybe 20 hours). Then I have to get the screens ready and exposed for printing, which usually doesn't take too long, maybe an hour or less per screen (the number of screens I use depends on the number of colours the drawing is). Then I print one colour at a time which usually takes me about three hours per colour (doing about 500-600 prints). Then I trim them (about an hour), and then I have to sign and number them, which takes forever.’

A selection of Dan's artwork is currently on exhibition at The Flood Gallery Greenwich and is available to purchase online below or at the gallery along with a wide selection of framing options