Mask blue and woman
signed in ink 'Messers MacDermott and MacGough' (lower centre)
crayon over cyanotype
64.5 x 52cm

David McDermott and Peter McGough, renowned for their immersive and collaborative artistic practice, are celebrated for blurring the lines between art and life. Meeting in Downtown New York in 1980, the pair became known for their unusual habit of living as Victorian dandies. Spanning painting, photography, sculpture, and printmaking, their work is deeply rooted in history, nostalgia, and time.

Key to their practice is their innovative approach to printmaking. Using antiquated techniques, such as cyanotype, gum bichromate, platinum and palladium, these prints reveal the pair's commitment to - and obsession with - historical accuracy. By working with tools and materials contemporary to the eras they sought to emulate, the duo imbued their prints with a sense of authenticity whilst recontextualising historical motifs to comment on themes of modernity, consumerism, and identity.

Living in meticulously styled interiors and dressing in period clothing, McDermott and McGough also used their art to explore queerness, mortality, and the AIDS crisis. Their ability to intertwine historical aesthetics with deeply personal and political narratives set them apart. Their works, held in major collections such as the Tate and the Whitney Museum of American Art, endure as testaments to their unique vision and their ability to transform traditional mediums like printmaking into vehicles for profound cultural commentary.