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Last Updated:
Jan 19th, 2010 - 13:22:35 |
Kevin O’Rourke
Best Cover Artist
When you take a good long look at our "Best Of" cover this year, which is traditionally done by a local artist who has blown our minds for quite sometime, you’ll notice a few things that are distinctly Detroit. Cars so tightly packed together that it almost appears they are devouring one another — mufflers hanging from their fender lips, black oil dripping down their bumper chins. The uninhabited beauty of the Michigan Central Depot fills out the skyline coolly caressing Real Detroit’s logo, along with the contemporary class of the GM Renaissance Center and the Fox Theatre’s vintage tower, while smaller buildings and landmarks like Hitsville USA hang out at ground level. For Kevin O’Rourke, the artist behind our "Best Of" cover, these elements represent the rawness of Detroit he appreciates so much — a major reason why he skipped out on Chicago after eight years of freelance work and headed back to his home state.
“The reason I love Detroit so much,” says O’Rourke, “is because it has so much character and underlying energy … definitely more character than any other city I’ve lived in.”
With over 25 years of artistic experience under his belt — logos for soccer kings Umbro, illustrations for Lowrider magazine, Goodwrench and more — O’Rourke has routinely drawn inspiration from his own stomping grounds, but also from his family growing up in Grand Rapids. “My whole family is artists,” explains O’Rourke. “My mom is an art teacher, and my dad is a photojournalist and videographer. My grandmother is an incredible oil painter, so … I’m basically continuing the family tradition at this point.”
“It’s just a way to express yourself,” continues O’Rourke who, by day works on motion graphics for Universal Images and supplements his creative pursuits through his own company, Crown Vic Productions (korourke.com). “I look at everything as a work of art, and there is really nothing that separates me from my artwork.” | RDW
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