by Tenesha Green | WeINSPIRE Reporter

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Creative, empowering, and loving. These three words describe Demarcus McGaughey best. The Dallas, Texas native is a skilled creative director, freelance graphic designer, artist, and life coach. But no matter how many job titles are tacked onto his LinkedIn page, painting remains near and dear to his heart.

In 1993, McGaughey stood in a long line at Prairie View A&M University to pick his major. With his mother nearby, he found himself questioning whether his studies were to put him on a career path to practice medicine or pursue art. He glanced over and realized that no one was standing in line for the majors associated with the art department and found himself reconciling his true desire to be an art major.

“I told my mom that this is the program that just feels right,” McGaughey said. “They [Prairie View] had a very small program at the time but I went into the program knowing that this is something that I had always wanted to do. I had watched this movie in high school called Boomerang, with Eddie Murphy, and that movie changed the trajectory of my future career.”

McGaughey ended up becoming an art major and eventually became the first person in his major to get an internship with an advertising agency in Houston. In 1998, McGaughey walked across the stage with his diploma in Advertising Art. He had no idea that day would set him up to become the creative artist that he is today in Brooklyn, New York.

Red, white, gold, and black were the only colors used to create what McGaughey states to be his ‘most iconic’ piece of art. Playing on the brand Campbell’s Soup, McGaughey thought to add in the British Supermodel and Actress, Naomi Campbell right in the center.

“This piece was created with paying homage to the artist Andy Warhol,” McGaughey said. “But then mashing it up with my advertising background thinking, ‘oh Naomi Campbell, Campbell’s Soup.’”

This painting went on to be displayed for one month at the Akwa Grooming Lounge in Brooklyn, New York. In February of 2018, McGaughey went on to sell his painting portraying his friend playing the trumpet. In the painting, you see a man wearing a white undershirt, ripped jeans, and a blue hat with his head bowed down. McGaughey entitles it El Tiguere con su trompeta.

“It’s kind of like the city thug with his trumpet,” McGaughey said. “This is a piece that I love because it reminds me of when my friend moved to New York from the Dominican Republic and he didn’t know anyone. He didn’t have any connections, he didn’t even know the language. He just thrived from his trumpet.”

For McGaughey, that very impactful and powerful story symbolizes friendship and love, along with inspiration, motivation, empowerment and being a risk-taker. His focus is to embody all of those feelings through this painting. 

All of McGaughey’s paintings represent a different era in his time or different experiences with people that he knows. They also represent a piece of himself because within his paintings are mixtures of graphic design and photography, which are both very important to him. 

“The people that inspire me all have a gift and talent,” McGaughey said. “All my paintings are mirrors. I see people and I want them to know I see them as a human being. You matter, you are enough and there’s only one you in the world.”