BIOGRAPHY:

Dave McKean (1963- ) lives and works in Kent, England. Since leaving the Berkshire College of Art and Design (1982 to 1986) he has illustrated several award winning comics (Arkham Asylum, Mr Punch, Signal To Noise, Sandman), written and illustrated an award winning comic novel (Cages), designed, illustrated and photographed over 150 CD covers (Bill Bruford, Bill Laswell, Michael Nyman, Fear Factory, Skinny Puppy, Tori Amos, Frontline) and created imagery and designs for ad campaigns (Nike, Kodax, British Telecom, Eurostar, Smironoff, BMW) and magazines (New Yorker, Mojo, Playboy, Penthouse).

He also runs Feral Records with top saxophonist Iain Bellamy and has directed several short films and video projects. He has illustrated children's books written by Neil Gaiman and has worked on film and book projects with Iain Sinclair, John Cale, The Rolling Stones Jonathan Carrol and Stephen King.

Dave McKean resides on the Isle of Oxney in the United Kingdom.

Interviews:
Film Force (2005)
True Brit (2004)
DC/Vertigo (2003)
Underground Online (2002)
The Comics Journal #196 (1997)
The Comics Journal #155 (1993)

Resources:
Gaiman & McKean Books
Dave McKean at Colony Media
Dave McKean at Beeld Beeld
Dave McKean at Allen Spiegel Fine Arts
Neil Gaiman on Dave McKean
The Art Of Dave McKean
Mirror Mask.com
Mouse Circus
Dreamline

Reviews:
Time.com: Cages

Cages
Last Gasp, 1998
McKean tells the stories of the inhabitants of a single building. The psychological toll of persecution. The tension between structure and experimentation in art and music. The pleasures of adult conversation. The pain of old age. A breath taking work of art.

"...one of artistic achievements that you're compelled to stand back from and just marvel at."
The Top 100 Comics, The Comics Journal #210

"Mesmerizing."
Terry Gilliam

Signal to Noise
with Neil Gaiman
DC/Vertigo, 1992
Somewhere in London a film director is dying of cancer. His life's crowning achievement, his greatest film, would have told the story of a European village as the last hour of 999 AD approached - the midnight which the villagers were convinced would bring Armageddon. Now that story will never be told. But he's still pointlessly working it out in his head, making a film that no-one will ever see. No one but us.

"Signal To Noise does not entertain. It scratches, it provokes, it frightens. It tells you things you don't want to know but then twists you inside out by saying, look harder and see the poignancy, the beauty of light dancing on life's edge, truth that is as simple and direct as death."
Jonathan Carroll, from his introduction.

Mr Punch
with Neil Gaiman
DC/Vertigo, 1994
In his grandfather's failing seaside arcade, a young boy encounters a mysterious Punch and Judy Man with a dark past, and a woman who makes her living playing a mermaid. As their lives intertwine and their stories unfold, the boy is forced to confront family secrets, strange puppets and a nightmarish world of violence and betrayal, in a fable of childhood innocence and adult pain.

"As an art object, Mr Punch is a tightly focused, mad pageant of illustrative techniques. Its initial appeal is the sculptural motifs which imply hidden, interior workings; composites of line, paint, photography and typography. Each page of this sensuous, beautiful book had to have been arrived at through different, partially experimental methods. Chromatic elements within each panel - paint and collage with a computer assist - play against a backdrop of black."
The Top 100 Comics, The Comics Journal #210

As writer/artist:
Pictures That Tick (2000)
Cages (1998)
The Voodoo Lounge (1995)

As artist, with writer Neil Gaiman:
The Wolves in the Wall (2002)
Caroline (2001)
The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish (1996)
Mr Punch (1994)
Signal to Noise (1992)
Black Orchid (1998)
Hellblazer: Hold Me (1989)
Violent Cases (1987)

As artist/designer:
What's Welsh For Zen with John Cale (1998)
Dust Covers : The Sandman Covers (1997)
Slow Chocolate Autopsy with Iain Sinclair (1997)
Vertigo Tarot with Rachel Pollack (1995)
The Tip Of My Tongue (1995)
Hellblazer: The Magus with Jamie Delano (1991)
Arkham Asylum with Grant Morrison (1990)

Photography:
The Particle Tarot - The Major Arcana (2000)
Option: Click (1997)
A Small Book Of Black & White Lies (1995)