Fin DAC
Fin DAC is an Irish-born, London-living, muralist, painter, sculptor and illustrator.
His bold and vibrant style is a far cry from the brutalist social housing in which he grew up, in Elephant and Castle. But it was in these unlikely surroundings that the seeds of his creativity were first sown.
Much like Beardsley, Fin DAC found inspiration in traditional Japanese woodblock prints, as well as being drawn to more contemporary and accessible art forms such as manga, graphic novels and science fiction. His female portraiture incorporates a variety of seemingly opposing elements, centring around women who stand between worlds, mixing traditional dress and iconography with modern attitudes. A thread can be seen running through his portraiture conveying a sense of pride and dignity that feels almost conservative, though simultaneously suggesting a less serious, more playful side.
About the art
The distinctive mask which repeatedly features in his portraiture draws from various sources. One of these is the character of Pris from the film Blade Runner. The dichotomy of her being a pleasure model as well as a killer was something that Fin DAC found compelling. Another is the signature mask of pop star Annie Lennox, the first female androgynous icon of the 1980s.
While the significance of the two drips falling from his mask remains shrouded in its own secrecy, not to be shared with the audience, the small dot in line with the third eye symbolises Fin DAC in his work. It stands to represent the spiritual journey that he needed and aligns him with the characters who inspire the sense of empowerment which he was searching for himself.
His appetite for fresh new ways of expressing himself have pushed Fin DAC to continually evolve and diversify his methods. This has led to him creating a concept based in a dystopian futuristic world around a gang of cyborg killers, known as The Girls of Dactown (GoDs) which have even come to life in life-size bronze sculptures. It’s fair to say that Fin DAC no longer struggles to find his place in the art world, because he has simply created his own.
