On Day 2 of Folk on the Rocks music festival, we featured artists Darrel Chocolate (paintings on canvas) and Trey Madsen (digital drawings/paintings). Their work is very different from one another's, but as both use bright and lurid colour, the work is uniquely complimentary.
Trey Madsen is an artist born in Yellowknife, NWT, and a member of the YKDFN. He resides in Calgary, AB, having graduated from the Alberta College of Art & Design.
From his statement: Irregular and unconventional, the things that make him right for this job can sometimes mean the wrong thing for everything else. Open-minded, Trey embraces a vast array of inspirational material from "the Everyday" such as movies, art, music, popular vibes, current trends, the random music they play in grocery stores - and every other virulent influence that we experience from The Everyday. Life is beautiful and the world around us is overwhelming.
Darrell Chocolate is a Dene artist from the Northwest Territories, Canada. He's originally from a small isolated community called Gameti (in the Tlicho region, just north of Yellowknife). He resides in Yellowknife and has made it his permanent residence since 2005, but he still considers Gameti his hometown.
From his statement: Since 2009 I've been painting with acrylic paint working on wildlife and commissioned portraits. In early 2019 I won the NorthwesTel regional phone book cover art contest and my story got headlines in the north. I was featured on the APTN National News, Yellowknife Moose FM, CBC radio North and My Yellowknife Now. I was thrilled at the publicity it got and my name as an artist was soon getting out there. I am currently working full time at the Ekati Diamond Mine, and I am anticipating my work as a full time artist will be sometime in the near future doing what I love since childhood. But for now working at the diamond mine pays my wages and I have to provide for a wife and 5 children at home. I have been working at the diamond mines since 2005 and I wonder when would be the day when I take up being a full time artist. That's still in the works.
