The inaugural Derpfest kicks off this weekend, combining live music and live artmaking at Hanger Art Company in Downtown Bloomington.
Derpfest organizer Daniel DeJarld grew up in Peoria. He moved to Bloomington-Normal in 2019 to attend art school at Illinois State University but didn't find the community he was looking for.
DerpFest is an attempt to cultivate one.
“That’s the inspiration at the heart of it,” DeJarld said in an interview for WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “To try to get artists to actually form a community here and create things together.”
Artists have 48 hours Friday and Saturday to paint an original work at Hangar Art Company, with musical acts performing throughout the weekend. The results will be auctioned off Sunday. A portion of the returns is donated to Illinois Art Station.
Bloomington-Normal appears to be flush with galleries and artist coalitions, but DeJarld feels some artists in the community are underrepresented.
As a mixed media artist and painter interested in large-scale works, DeJarld has fewer places to display his work than a typical painter. He's in the process of securing a wall at the 410 Sculpture Park developing under the Main Street bridge. Hangar Art Company is one enterprise that has a big enough footprint to house large pieces and leans into new and countercultural forms.
“There’s plenty of artists I know that don’t get the academic, gallery respect and recognition because that’s who’s putting on the show,” DeJarld said.
Dejarld isn’t dissing that scene.
“I’ll partake in anybody’s vibe,” he said.
But in creating Derpfest, Dejarld sets the tone. It’s his vibe.
Happy little accidents
Composer and visual artist Ricco Dubrava, known in artist circles as “RNotte,” creates digital animation using an iPad and Apple pencil. But for Derp Fest, they're planning to paint.
“It is convenient that you get to erase digital art,” they said. “When I’m painting with a canvas and I make a mistake, I consider it a happy little accident and I put the mistake in as part of the finished piece.”
Sage advice, on loan from Bob Ross.
“My art professors used to point out that some of the flaws in my art had interesting meaning behind them,” RNotte said. “At the time, I would be like, only you can find hidden meanings in a screw-up.”
Embracing the messiness is an undercurrent of Derpfest, which creates transparency by allowing the public to encounter art as it’s being made.
“The flaws make [art] more valuable,” said DeJarld. “If you want a perfect painting, you can just get AI to create it. Only you know how to take advantage of the flaws.
‘Derp’ as a placeholder for nothing—and everything
The word “derp” originates from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and has been seen in rage comics and dusty corners of the internet. It's used in memes as a stand-in for duh. Or dur. Or in the Midwest: ope!
For DeJarld, it's a brand. And a nothingburger.
“It’s a meaningless word; it means nothing,” he said. “People try to put labels on art all the time. Art is an expression. Art is a language. It’s a way of channeling things in your brain that you can’t put into words.”
Derpfest is free and open to the public. Headliners Without a Tres and Hannah & the Sweet Nothings play from 6-10 p.m. Friday at the Hangar Art Company, 105 W. Jefferson, Bloomington. Saturday is EDM night, from 5-10 p.m. A live auction starts at 1 p.m. Sunday, with proceeds benefitting Illinois Art Station in a 50/50 split with the artists. For more details visit Derpfest on Facebook.
