Derek Hess: Influence of Alternative Art, Angst, and Aspiration

Born in 1964, Derek Hess grew up in Cleveland, Ohio with his father Roy Hess, chairman of Industrial Design at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA). (Answers.com) Hess’s relationship with his father holds a great deal of influence on his start and continuation in the art field. Roy Hess’s abilities created a feeling of aspiration in Derek and fostered his great talent in the arts. (Hess 1) This wasn’t the only thing that sparked Hess’s interest however. Derek found a strong connection with the comic superheroes of his time, much like many other children and remembers his father illustrating the war fantasies Derek would playfully create. (Answers.com) These things, along with encouragement, allowed this artist’s talent to flourish and grow. As a young boy, Derek’s parents placed him in Saturday art classes at CIA, helping him to develop and delve into the arts even further. (Pantsios) Encouraged to draw whenever boredom struck and memorized by the artistic abilities of his father, Hess pursued art once he graduated high school, beginning his professional journey toward fine arts. (Answers.com)
As a high school student, however, Hess turned down a dark road that lead him into a relationship with drugs and alcohol, one that seemed to only get worse when he reached the college level. (Pantsios) Taking advantage of his father’s position as chairman at CIA, Derek found it easy to take things for granted and fall victim to this temptation. (Pantsios) Falling behind in his work and taking semesters off to avoid facing this problem, Hess seemed to be digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole. Trying to escape using his father’s position as a crutch, Derek decided to transfer to the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit and study both illustration and design. (Hess 1) It was here that Hess faced his problem with substance abuse, using campus resources and groups to become sober in 1987. (Pantsios) With this shift in his approach to life, there was also a shift in how Hess approached his work. It seemed to the artist that his emotional connection to creation was no longer blurred by sustenance abuse and that now he had an excess of time to devote to his work. (Pantsios)
During the period that Hess was emerging into his skin as an artist and an adult, the music scene was undergoing developments that would ultimately affect Hess and his body of work. One development would become known as the alternative movement in music. More importantly, the concept of poster designs promoting music events would become a large aspect of both the music and design industries, as well as a large part of Derek Hess’ life. (Pantsios) Abandoning the idea of getting a degree, Hess started to work at the Euclid Tavern in 1990, where he in turn developed posters to promote bands and shows that he had booked for the venue. (Pantsios) This would soon become the beginnings of Derek Hess’s long relationship with both poster creation and the music scene. Utilizing his background in design, fine arts, and printmaking, Hess’ posters became widely coveted by teens and music junkies due to his dedication to craftsmanship and hands-on work. Although computer programs were becoming a large part of design during the nineties, Derek decided to stick with the foundations that he knew and could execute well. (Pantsios) It was this decision and his craftsmanship that would push Derek Hess into a career destined for success.

With work that seemed to stray from the ideals of the fine arts world and became more a part of the music underground, Derek joined many artists in the lowbrow movement. This recently founded movement (founded circa 1994) is defined by the characteristics of “alternative comix of the sixties and seventies with hot rod culture of the fifties” along with a splash of eighties punk art. (Feldman) and (Esaak) Artists like R. Crumb set the groundwork for a whole new vision in art, one that was considered below the world of fine art, but that in turn created a more relatable and interesting appeal to the common person and aspiring artists. (Feldman) Lowbrow didn’t strive for pretentious standing in the art world; rather, it was most interested in using common significant references and styles. (Easak) It was also a style and mindset that was placed on a public pedestal through the creation of Juxtapoz magazine by Robert Williams. Juxtapoz hit the stands and the public eye featuring lowbrow artists’ work and showing that they too were part of a larger community. (Esaak) The acceptance of this new culture in art created a comfortable, almost perfect, home for the work of Derek Hess; a place that allowed artists of the lowbrow movement to participate in the current artistic dialog.
After finding a home in the world of poster design and his groundings in areas of fine arts, Hess took to a career that became more profession based. Beneficial to this shift, was Hess’s partnership with Marty Geramita in 1993, a poster collector and dealer. (Hess 1) This relationship allowed Hess to gain enough financial backing to focus on production of art as well as boosting his recognition. With a style that was recognizably his own, Hess’s posters became in-demand for events and promotions around 1993. (Answers.com) Shortly after, Hess decided he needed to focus on his own messages rather than strictly commissioned projects. In 1995 Stretch Marks, Derek’s first show opened at the Busta Gallery in Cleveland kicking off his venture into the fine arts world. (Pantsios) Hess continued to move forward in production creating a number of originals, as well as prints, posters, album artwork, and even clothing. (Hess 1) Through these means Hess created financial stability and was able to enter his work into shows across the country and even has his 1993-1994 portfolio included in Louve’s permanent collection. (Gross) Over the years Hess has developed a dramatic style and maintained a close connection with production and the creative process.
With a distinct and edgy style, Hess has drawn in the support of many fans, as well as a solid level of exposure. Drawing influence from both comic book illustrations and the music world, Hess creates a strong idea of the figure, sketched lines, and angst into dramatic visions. (“Stefan” at BlogSpot.com) These highly graphic images catch the eye and smartly address issues pertaining to current political and social states, such as a recent campaign poster for President-Elect Barack Obama. Maintaining this distinct style over the years, Hess uses popular culture and political situations to fuel growth in his work. In Closer to Life Hess takes a figure and depicts it in a stylized, graphic nature filling the space around him with a sense of a simplistic and almost surreal environment. A nine color plate lithograph print, Closer to Life was created in 1989 as part of Hess’s printmaking study and shows the strong foundation of Hess’s artistic identity. In this piece, Hess depicts a large male figure taking up most of the space of the 30” by 22” print. This figure is poised in an almost floating manner among nondescript clouds and colors that create a backdrop. With a knife in hand, the subject seems to be cutting his ring finger off of his rights hand in a seemingly matter-of-fact way. Although color is brought into the print through the use of brown, red, blue, peach, and black, the figure is described in a relatively flat manner. Hess uses simple, sketchy lines to lay out space and creates a dramatic sense of negative space around the figure’s body by doing so.

When compared to some of his later and more current work like Floater and Not Dead Yet, Hess describes the figures in a very similar fashion. Maintaining a strong sense of sketchy lines and bold marks, Hess builds tension while also creating a simple description of form. Colors grow far bolder in his newer pieces however, and compositions become more playful in structure. In these later works the images of wings are utilized often, as well as the technique of collage. Hess combines the image of Captain America, the famous Marvel character into his piece Not Dead Yet revealing his attachment to comic icons. Although description is very similar to Hess’ earlier works, the collage aspect fills in much of the solid toned negative space around the figures and creates a more dramatic setting for his pieces. When Hess’s original artworks are compared to his prints, a similar approach can be observed. The figure and composition in particular closely mirror the printmaking process. Hess plays with the collage process in the way printmaking can utilize many different layers and carries over his takes on color and characters throughout each branch of work. In Floater (2008), a piece in which an angel-like figure is seen floating on a water line above submerged garbage cans and tires, Hess creates an interesting matte for the scene by laying a map around the piece’s border. Over the years, Hess has created work that pulls inspiration from the world around him, but that also continually maintains strong imagery, a sense of angst and of visual drama. Within this body of work Hess varies his inclusion of color and his choice of subject, but keeps a continuous description of the figure and constant line quality.

I almost fell upon the work of this talented artist in an event that seems much like a random chance occurrence. While watching an episode of LA Ink, Derek Hess made an appearance in the television program along with a fan both looking to get new tattoos. The art of each tattoo was striking and related to the style that I was personally very connected to and were both the designs of Derek Hess. After watching the episode, I took time to research Hess and discovered more work that proved to be a great source of inspiration. While reading about Hess’s style, I found an attachment to the printmaking process as well as related to his visual vocabulary. I feel comradery with Hess’ work, having created similar visions of figures and narratives in the past. My own work relates to Hess’s approach to mark making and the reduction of figures to lines. This new idea of companionship in the art world, even though it was one of distance, created a strong sense of confidence in me and led to further discovery of similar Lowbrow artists. Artists such as Audrey Kawasaki, Tara McPherson, Mark Ryden, and Robert Williams as well, all seemed to have similar edge to their work, incorporating everyday imagery and styles to shape new and distinct ones. With this idea of artistic company, I abandoned the idea of sticking to a style that I had considered the expected fine arts model in high school and started to develop a personal connection between my own conceptual intent and inspiration. I referenced images that I had only created on personal time to now form a new template of visual language in my work.

Connection to Hess, as well as the other artists mentioned above, was not a strictly visual one. There was also a resemblance to inspiration in comics and their visual style. Hess speaks of how as a student in the arts most of his classmates would try to relate their work to artists who were, and still are, held in high standing in the art world. Instead of following suit, Derek would relate his work to the artists creating comic book heroes and epic visual stories. I too, found inspiration in comic books and additionally graphic novels as well. Taught that this was not a true fine arts pathway, I abandoned this connection in many personal pieces. Returning to it only when I did art for pleasure rather than for assignment based purposes, this aspect of my art become something hidden away. With Hess as an important influence, I’ve taken a new sense of pride in my work. Hess opened my eyes to many artists who use the same vocabulary I am attempting to develop and allowed me to adventure even further into these ideas. He provided a figure of creativity based on the common, everyday man who achieved the status of an artist, which in my mind, and the mind of many other aspiring artists was similar to the status of a comic book hero. Derek Hess demonstrates that this was a status that was attainable and inspired the passion in me to fight for its achievement.