Joseph "2H" McSween Hall Of Fame Artist

Artist Statement

Joseph McSween creates paintings that blend traditional oil painting techniques learned from old master painters juxtaposed with contemporary art genres such as graffiti, street art, tattoo, low brow, and pop surrealism cultures. He conveys his ideas on wood panels using oil painting which he progressively transitioned to after becoming well versed over many years with using acrylics, spray paint, computers, silkscreen, and many other art mediums. He is most popular for his female figurative works but has also branched out and started creating portraits of other famous subjects to much acclaim from publishers, fans and collectors. As a sponsored member of Grumbacher and Koh-I-Noor artists, he is proud to represent these traditional beloved American art manufacturing companies as a professional fine artist. He has shown work in over fifty gallery shows in the U.S. and abroad. He has been published in several books and as a featured magazine cover artist. He has also been represented by The Orange County museum of art, Thinkspace Gallery L.A., Compound Gallery, Gallery1988, Flatcolor Gallery, Blackbook NY, Ronin Gallery L.A., Monster Children Gallery in Sydney. His work is held in collections around the world from Emmy award winning artists, rock stars to the art collection of Amazon.com and to him most importantly lifelong friends and family.

Grumbacher product overview

I started to write a full description of my whole painting process using Grumbacher products and it got to be over a page long on my notepad. It was so long winded because I came to the conclusion that I use literally the full spectrum of Grumbacher and Koh-I-Noor products from start to finish of all my fine art projects. I think that speaks in itself to the quality of every item in the line and the long commitment to quality within the company. I use my Koh-I-Noor pencils to mark measurements constructing my wood panels, also creating the initial under-painting sketch for an oil painting. From there I use my Grumbacher Pre-Tested oils to render each layer of my painting with different mediums such as the linseed oil to extend or shorten my drying times. I even use the Grumbacher products I thought I would never find myself using such as the Japan Drier medium. After I finish a painting I usually don’t have time to wait 6-12 months for a final varnish before sending the painting off to a collector so I find the Damar Retouch Varnish spray useful for providing some protection for the painting until I can schedule a future date with a collector to lay on a permanent varnish. I haven’t even spoken on the quality of the brushes which I love, at this point there more like an extension of my own arm because I’m always using them. I could go on forever and I’m always happy to answer questions with any knowledge I have with other artists. Feel free to contact me. I will say that I have used most of the Grumbacher products so far but there are some I haven’t yet explored. That’s part of the love I have for oil painting is that there are infinite ways to explore the magic of it using my many different Grumbacher materials.

Joseph recommends Japan Drier and Matte Damar Varnish Spray.

Using Grumbacher since 1995