Derek, who opts to work under the moniker of DML, has been involved in Reachout since soon after its inception twenty five years ago and is one of the organisation’s most prolific artists. Working mostly on paper in a range of pencil, colour pencil / watercolour pencil, ink, paint and collage, Derek expresses visual snapshots of his vibrant imagination through quick, freeform mark making. Symbols from gypsy and traveller cultures, animals, mythical beasts and references to overheard stories, observations made that day, current affairs, contemporary mythology and folklore all make their way into the compositions as recurring motifs, alongside text; plays on words he describes as 'mild satire’, using subtle messages about politics and the world around him to quietly illustrate his tongue-in-cheek outlook on it all.

My work is almost like a collage but without necessarily using cut and paste images - I create collages with just pencils and pens. Images and ideas can be juxtaposed on the page, and then sometimes not juxtaposing but blending together as one form. I like taking lots of information and flinging it together quickly on one page. The Scandinavians would call it a ‘smörgåsbord’ and the scottish word for that is ‘Hotch-Potch’. I think my artwork is a ‘Smörgåspotch’.

The work shown is a snapshot of Derek’s work at Reachout since the end of 2017. We wanted to show a large volume of this work to make the exhibition an immersive experience of Derek’s other-worldly aesthetic.