An Interview with Danny Devine                                                                Ben Ostroff

On February 21, 2011, Danny Devine started an ambitious project. He decided to create a new piece of art everyday for the next year. On day number 366 I met Danny at a local drinking establishment to talk about his art and reflect on the last year of his “Draw-A-Day” project.

Ben: Why did you become an artist?

Danny: My mother is an art teacher. She solidified the importance of art at a young age. I have a water-color painting from when I was three hanging in my apartment.

B: Can you describe your art?

D: Pop, I guess. I draw from everyday life. It’s kind of romantic and flirty. I draw a lot of stuff about Pittsburgh and sports. There’s a lot of stuff about the Pirates and their rise and plummet during the 2011 season.

B: Why did you start the draw-a-day project?

D: I had a friend in New Mexico who was taking a photo-a-day for a year of graffiti on freight trains and I decided I was going to start a draw-a-day that ran at the same time, and start on the same day.

B: Did she last the entire year?

D: She did not. She stopped in September, somewhere around day 220.

I started the project to get better developmental wise. Before I started the draw-a-day, I was doing stuff that looked the same, over and over again, which is a result of a lot of the commissions I was getting at the time. This project allowed me to let loose a little bit, but a lot of things took a step back because of the project, like my social and romantic life.

B: Did you see a progression in your style from Day 1 to Day 365?

D: My drawing is better. My line work is definitely more confident, same with my color theory. I’m more confident drawing anything now. I was more closed before. Before the project I would just draw letters. Now I draw more images.

B: Your art has a comedic point-of-view, where does that come from?

D: Growing up in the East End of Pittsburgh. Going to Peabody, if you couldn’t take a joke, make fun of yourself and make fun of other people, you were fucked. You had to dish it and take it.

B: Last I heard you lost drawing Number 1…

D: I found number 1! It was in a shoebox I haven’t seen in 8 months. It says “Draw 365, Number 1.” I have almost all of the drawings from the project. There are a couple on freight trains that will obviously not be in the gallery. It’s interesting to have a drawing that’s rolling across the country. It’s going to age, it’s going to rust out, it’s going to get dirty. I saw a picture of one and it’s half painted over by someone who did a piece on the train. But everything is documented through photographs.

B: Did you ever burn out?

D: Yeah, I burned out about 5 times maybe. Only for about a day or two. Over a year you get sick, you get tired. You work 11 hours in a day and then need to come home and draw. I just got an adequate amount of sleep, and then I’m back on top.

B: At the beginning of the project you would draw more at the bar after work, and by the end of the project you were drawing at home. Why?

D: Focus. I have a nice work space set up which I didn’t have before.

B: Some of your “draw-a-days” came on what you called Sunday Fundays. What happened on those days?

D: Several of my colleagues and I explore the urban landscape of Pittsburgh, and anywhere around Pittsburgh. The trip to Fayettenam [Fayette County] was my favorite. There was the awesome sense of comradery that day. We went to an abandoned whiskey distillery that day and it took an hour and a half on the train tracks from the closest town to get there. That day I drew in an abandoned locker. I drew a Pirates hat, some Nikes, and a coat hanging up in the locker.

Every Sunday Funday we went out I would create Zine that would replace my draw-a-day for that particular day. The zines are generally 20 pages, black and white, 5” x 7”, some of them are on multi-colored paper. They’re all photos, no text. Just photos of us having a good time on a Sunday. I skipped football season this year to adventure.

B: On top of pop, your art has a “street” feel to it. What are your feelings on street art?

D: It depends on what you like. I think that Banksy is a toy, Shepard Fairey is a toy. They beat dead horses. Banksy goes into blighted neighborhoods in major cities and puts up negative messages, messages of hopelessness and heartbreak.

Under bridges, and the tracksides you have in McKees Rocks make the street art in Pittsburgh unique to other places. Braddock is a good example of a place that’s accepting of street-art, bringing people in to paint with the blessing from the mayor.

B: What are you going to be doing next now that your draw-a-day is over?

D: I’m going to drink a lot less, because I can draw straighter lines if I’m not drunk.

click on the thumbnail for more Danny Devine art

Ben Ostroff immigrated to Pittsburgh about five years ago. He can be found wandering the streets of the East End wearing Montreal Canadiens paraphernalia.