Signature Process

Dean Loucks has never met a canvas he didn’t like. Whether it was a 100% Hanes cotton t-shirt or a 200 mph Indy racing car, he applied his art with an energy that could power a small rocket.

Now, this artist, known internationally for his visionary custom paint work on boats, racecars, motorcoaches and other applications, has turned his talents toward a new venture.

The Dean Loucks Fine Art Collection isn’t your typical piece of wall art. You won’t see any traditional still lifes or landscapes out of this man. Rather, his work evokes motion…a life force…a vibrancy of color so palpable you’ll want to reach out and touch it – just to see if it feels as dynamic as it looks.

With his unique style, whether he’s creating a painting of a daisy, a cowfish or a martini, Dean’s work grabs you, sucks you in, and leaves you reeling. It seems as alive…as organic…as the blood of the man who put it there.

What’s fascinating, though, is that Dean didn’t set aside the tools of his trade for traditional brushes and paints. With a full-size paint gun, an airbrush, a razor and specific chemicals, Dean has created a signature process for painting fine art. Developed over the course of his lifetime, this process – which he describes as painting in reverse, or the art of removal – culminates in works of art that cannot be replicated.

The Process

Picture this. A pristine white Masonite board laid flat on sawhorses. Dean at the ready, pouring a precleaner from a can to clear surface matter. Having thought through every precise step of the process, Dean knows the precleaner will also leave behind a faint layer to help him better manipulate the motion of the paint. And the motion is everything.

Over the next several hours, the artist and his art interact.

Using his Signature Series custom paint line from Akzo Nobel, Dean squeezes out a fine line of color. Layer by layer, he throws paint, squirts it, blasts it down and dribbles it onto the board. With the airbrush and the paint gun, he impels the colors to slide and glide and drift and flow.
Back and forth, Dean works – slowly, but with a pent-up kinetic energy, the silence broken only by the wind velocity of the airbrush and the gentle roar of the paint gun.

Now it’s time to make the colors not just move, but to actually shift them in tone and depth. Dean sloshes a clear liquid called reducer over the board. The magic of this chemical causes the colors to speckle, to mottle, to meld, revealing subtle changes in lightness and brightness. Dean lifts one edge of the board and the reducer flows like a waterfall, rendering yet more drama and texture onto the image. If the painting is too bright, Dean swishes on thinner, which throws the colors toward the pastel range. He knows you can never predict exactly how any of the tools – whether mechanical or chemical – will affect the end result, which is why each piece of art is so very one-of-a-kind.

At this point, the true art of Dean’s signature process begins – the art of removal.

With the power of the paint gun, Dean applies just the right touch on the trigger to strip slices of color off the surface and reveal the bright white of the board beneath. With a razor, he scrapes color away to create fine lines, sharpen edges, and enhance detail. Meticulously, with a quick and creative eye, he continues to work the art.

And then, the concept that was only an ethereal vision in Dean’s mind becomes tangible, alive, nearly breathing. Finally, he steps back and lays down his tools. One more dynamic piece of art is ready for the world.