Don't Tell Niall McClelland His Drawings Are Paintings

News recently broke that Brooklyn artist Adam Parker exhibited an entire art show of stolen artwork—pilfered from the studios of friends. But was he the first to come up with this ground breaking idea? Not really. Niall McClelland, a 33-year-old Toronto artist did it first with his piece Other People’s Paintings, albeit slightly different, and plucked them from the dumpster of his surrounding studio mates.

Unlike Parker, thankfully, McClelland isn’t surfing on that idea for his entire art career. Dirty surfaces, bricks, and a lot of black can be found in the works of McClelland who takes minimalism to the next level with resourceful (and cheap) materials like photocopy ink and found pillow cases. He went to art school with Tim Barber in Vancouver before relocating to Toronto. You can find his stuff at the Clint Roenisch Gallery in Toronto and Envoy Enterprises in New York, where he recently made his debut. His next show is this fall at Wil Aballe Art Projects in Vancouver.

McClelland’s work is closely rooted in DIY punk aesthetic, but that’s not to say he is still skateboarding (I don’t think he even has any tattoos). Granted, you can’t be defined for the work you did in your early 20s. Since then, McClelland has launched a line of scarves with Jeremy Laing, built large wall pieces, and makes sculptures from scavenged bike locks and deflated tire tubes.

I first met the artist at a gallery show in Toronto for this web TV show I was doing at the time. It had been years since we spoke, but we caught up on Skype while I was getting free WiFi at a library in Berlin. I believe we were both hungover. Saturday interviews are usually the worst, but I think we made the best of it.

VICE: Where did you get the found paintings for the Other People’s Paintings piece? Did they know you were doing it?
Niall McClelland: In the dumpster outside my studio. There's a lot of awful Sunday painters in my building, I scavenge their materials all the time, high quality canvas and stretchers they just throw toss in the dumpster. So no, they have no idea I've used their work, haha. It's fucking awful anyway, nobody needs to see that crap.

You seem to like black. Does the darkness in your work originate from the north of Ireland?
Ha, probably not, but my sarcasm definitely does. I mean, I lived in Vancouver for a bunch of years and that's a pretty dark city if you're young and poor. But really I've just been into black and white illustration and punk ephemera for ever, and years ago started distilling elements of that into the work you've seen over the past few years.

You are known for your photocopy paintings. Are you influenced by zine culture in any way?
Zine fairs are hell on earth for me. I don't like a lot of zines or actively participate in the culture, But I've had a few photocopied or newsprint books that have been huge for me. You know the quote “It's not the band I hate, it's the fans?” That’s me with zines. I've worked with the photocopier as a drawing tool since high school, but I never fit in with zine culture or had any serious interest in it. As a side note, that's interesting you call them paintings, I tend to refer to them as drawings.

Well, I guess they’re drawings, then. Where does your inspiration lie?
Big question. Making, living, looking, talking, reading… then editing, failing, finding inspiration in failure and picking it up from there.  One long continuous process of opening up my eyes, editing and trying not to be confined by my own bad taste.

You worked with Jeremy Laing in the past and you also have a badass line of silk scarves. How did you end up in fashion and are there any more fashion crossovers in the future?
Jeremy saw a show of mine in 2011 and got in touch; we met up, and then realized instantly we were on the same page. I was really happy with how Jeremy treated the work and the line ended up doing really well. We're actually currently working on another project together with Arts & Crafts right now, I'm into working in fashion if it's the right fit.

Where does your love of abstraction come from?
The older I get, the more sense it makes. But, I think I was really drawn to it after having worked in graphic design for so many years, where abstract or vague ideas are discouraged. That being said, I'm not committed to abstraction necessarily, it’s just a language I've been using.

How does it feel to be a Toronto art star?
I wish it came with a paycheque.

Follow Nadja on Twitter: @nadjasayej

More art:

At Ease Beyond the Point of Comfort with Coco Young

Piotr Sokuls Photographys Bloody Hands and Naked People

Richard Hell Talks About His Epically Badass New Memoir