About DEARTDEALER

My name is Demarr McIlwain and I create art to embody growth and development through my experiences of becoming man and finding peace. My art addresses the insecurities and issues that young people face on their path to choosing between fear and love. My art is to be seen as anything but perfect, the pieces consist of distorted objects and people to show there is beauty in the uncommon. 

I’ve been creating art for as long as I can remember. But because of both of my parents being artists I struggled with finding my voice or my relationship with art . So most of my creations in my early life were me trying to find my own style. Growing up I never truly had any “ideal” male role models and as time passed I realized this was a problem that was not only affecting me, but it was also affecting young people all around me. In the early days of me doing art I would always come up with different superheroes that I imagined can take on anything. As my art progresses over the years I realize I never stop drawing these heroes, they just weren’t wearing capes anymore. I realized I was waiting to be saved from something. However, the time never came for me. But with that being said I realize that my time to be saved has already passed and there are people in my life that are in the same predicament I was in and now it’s my time to step up to the plate and show the youth they’re not the only ones that feel alone and misunderstood.

I do this by taking things that could be seen as uncomfortable and put them in an environment that is unusual for them. To some what force the viewer to think differently or have a different point of view. With my art I want to show it’s okay not to fit in to the normal or majority and just be unapologetically you.