Dave McKean: Black Dog

About

Black Dog is an exhibition of drawings by British artist Dave McKean from his 2016 graphic novel Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash. McKean is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans illustration, photography, film, and music. In 2016 he was commissioned by UK-based art program 14-18 NOW, The Imperial War Museum, and the Lakes Festival, to participate in commemorating the 100-year anniversary of World War I. Utilizing his multifaceted approach, McKean produced Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash, a 120 page graphic novel that interprets the life of wartime artist Paul Nash through the space of Nash’s dreams. Alongside a dream-like psychological portrait of British landscape, McKean creates a visual storyline that vacillates between Nash’s childhood, his time as a soldier and war artist, and the proceeding years. Analogous to the surreal quality of Paul Nash’s own body of work, McKean explores the life of Nash with a hazy hypnogogic lens, where attention is paid to scars left on the psyche from the traumas of war.