Derek McLeod is a graduate of OCAD U in Toronto, Canada (2004), where he studied Industrial Design. He has run Derek McLeod Design since 2008, designing and creating furniture for commercial and residential markets. Derek has practiced painting since his university days, focusing on abstract and landscape works. His current works explore colour fields and minimalism at large scales, where the painted surface fills the entire range of vision in luminous expanses.
“Making a painting for me is a way of speaking in colour. A way of preserving a feeling through the act of blending with the brush. I want to evoke awe and love and hope; to celebrate wonder. The colours should ideally fill your whole frame of vision, where they can transport you to a place where your mind can float and drift almost without thought. Living next to Lake Ontario in Toronto, a sunset can occasionally blur the horizon to the point where water and sky are indistinguishable. Where solid and void become one. I want to make paintings that live in that moment.”