Joey Deruy: Art of a Model

What do you get when you put a fashion model and a visual artist together? Joey Deruy. Deruy is a passionate artist from San Francisco, California. Even though he resides on the west coast, Deruy has experienced several different parts of the world including Montana, Texas, Africa, and more.  He began his art career in Dallas, Texas. After establishing himself in the southern state. Deruy got a number of private and public commissions, states sfist.com. He had a very strong interest in the arts since he was 11 years old. According to joeyderuy.com, at the age of 11 Deruy was featured in his first art show in Helena, MT. The artist displayed his works which have been utilized to create tattoo art, ad illustrations and candle illustrations.

Before Joey Deruy became a well defined artist, most people may know him as a fashion model for Versace. He was still painting before he became a model, but his work was not acknowledged so much at the time. Deruy tells diginmag.com that he got introduced to hair dresser, Todd Hedrick and this man introduced him to the modeling industry. Eventually he obtained a modeling position with the fashion line Versace. He goes on to say how he was too short to do runway, so most of his work was associated with print modeling.   

“I’m either doing art or I’m doing fashion. I think fashion is very short lived, but I was grateful for the opportunities that I had,” Deruy says. According to missoulian.com, during his modeling career he continued to paint, and eventually began to earn accolades and showings that were equally impressive to his modeling resume. Deruy’s inspiration comes from local places, people, and memories of his modeling career and he relates these things to his works.

Still in transition of becoming the best artist he can be, Deruy attends San Francisco City College. He is taking classes while pursing his career in fine art painting. He has showcased some of his photos at the school’s events according to sfist.com. Muttgallery.com describes the artist’s work as illustrative, abstract paintings that often deal with the equally rational and irrational world we live in.  Judging the artwork of Deruy, he uses very distinct lining by creating abstract images that have generally figurative elements which communicate individual stories. With some awards such as; San Francisco’s SF Weekly Best of 2009, being featured on the cover of Q Texas, Washington Blade and more, Deruy is making himself known in the industry.

Like some artists wanting to try something new, Joey Deruy tells diginmag.com that he wants to lean more towards the idea of futurism, trying to put in a painting to form the idea of technology. When it comes to art Deruy believes that he has more of a solid base to work with and visual art has always been easier for him. For more information: www.joeyderuy.com.

-Deidre Palode

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