Louis DeMarco
is a modern renaissance man.
By Grant Scott-Goforth
Get Along (self-portrait)
Born in Chicago, his life’s work is a smorgasbord of mediums: painting and drawing, playing and composing music, writing and comedy, digital arts and more. And in a culmination of all of those media, he’s been developing a sitcom. Among Louis’ fans--an owner of multiple pieces of his work--is one of his own idols, David Byrne.
Louis started making art when he was 2 or 3 years old. “I used to draw Victorian houses, trains, TV show logos,” he says. “I draw from photographs, from life, from my imagination.”
He wrote before he spoke, communicating with his family on a typewriter his mother gave him. And he began playing music at a young age as well, learning the keyboard, picking up drums, and playing bass.
Since 2005, Louis has worked with Project Onward, a Chicago-based nonprofit art studio and gallery that focuses on working with disabled artists in a blend of social engagement and artistic excellence.
He has strung together an impressive number of exhibits and special projects, not to mention awards and honors, in his 17 years with Project Onward.
“Louis gains inspiration from the world around him, says Robyn Jablonski, Louis’ friend and Project Onward’s Creative Director. “He’s moved in his visual art to use as a tool to understand the world.”
Since 2015, he’s been developing a sitcom that brings together his many talents.
Toaster’s Logo
An online teaser for the sitcom, Toaster’s, features several scenes, with vocal and musical tracks over hand-drawn storyboards. While it’s a bit of a rough cut, it’s reminiscent of the classic sitcoms it’s based on and reflective of Louis’ sensibilities.
“I started drawing out posters for Toaster’s in 2020,” he says. “But Robyn and I started coming up with the title in 2015.”
It’s a mashup of two of Louis’ favorite shows, Cheers and Friends.
“It revolves around hapless bartender Steve Monroe,” Louis explains. “It changes his life because his wife died in a movie theater.”
But she died in a funny way, he assures me. “A tragic popcorn incident--just write that,” he says, laughing. “Monroe’s [who Louis voices] friends try to help him get over the loss of his wife, and along the way he meets Donna, his on-again off-again girlfriend.”
The show highlight’s Louis’ wordplay and turns of phrase, beginning with the character’s names (“Darla Tortellini” is inspired by Carla Tortelli and Monica Geller) and carrying through to the snappy dialogue and Steve Monroe’s memorable, self deprecating catchphrase: “Take the nerd’s word for it. ”
But beyond the famous influences, it’s also a very personal project. “It’s kind of mirroring Louis’ life,” says Robyn. “He’s using characters from his real life.”
“Nate Patterson”, a mashup of of Norm Peterson and Joey Tribbiani, is also based on (and voiced by) Louis’ longtime friend George Zuniga, who is also an artist at Project Onward.
Louis composed the opening theme and transition music and created character cutouts to place against backgrounds he also drew. The 3-D effect, with dialogue and soundtrack, gives it more life than a storyboard--it already feels almost animated.
Louis has been working on the screenplay for more than two years, and he and friends continue to have regular Zoom writing sessions. He’s learning to use Blender, a free, open source animation program. And he’s still deciding if he wants the final product to be animated, live-action, or a blend of the two.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Robyn says. “Louis has always wanted Toaster’s to be a TV show--visuals just came as a tool to help write, and understand the world.”
Toaster’s Characters
Toaster’s Bar Set
Toaster’s is far from the only world-building Louis has done. For years he has been constructing Loudemar, a mythological island, through maps, charts, and designs.
“It’s composed of a fortress, a pyramid, a treehouse, some houses,” Louis says, explaining that it helps him feel safe.
Louis can sometimes feel overwhelmed by sensory inputs, especially sounds and sometimes visuals. Loudemar’s architecture and its two main animal protector inhabitants can help Louis visualize bad feelings as clouds and push them away.
“My animal protector’s name is Billy the Butterfly. He tells me what to and not to do.” And, he adds, Billy “talks in the voice of the late, great Adam West, of Batman.”
Louis slips into a spot-on impression: “Louis, do not pace back and forth.”
“Hank the Hawk wards off the colored clouds from above my head--colored clouds are bad states. He does a Dirty Harry style glare and says, ‘Louis, pay attention,’ and blows the clouds away. Then I lower the falconer’s hand, and Hank will fly away just as the colored clouds float away.”
Louis has explored Loudemar extensively, with portraits of its inhabitants and scenes of their interactions, detailed plans of the buildings, maps of the island’s landscapes and more.
He’s also created other pieces to help him understand the world and his brain, and push away unwanted thoughts and intrusive noise.
“My Heart, My Brain, My Eye, and My Ear,” is a series of anatomical marker and ink drawings with watercolors, which explores his understanding and ways of overcoming sensory issues.
His “Words to Live By” series feature brightly hued phrases over blue skies and puffy white clouds. The words--Louisisms--are mantras that he has developed over the years to help himself feel safe and confident.
“Filled, positive, and safe.”
“Some things need to remain a mystery.”
“Erase the beast.”
They’re at once universal and deeply personal, original but nodding to the motivational phrases that may seem cloying or trite today. The juxtaposition of the danger-yellow words and the calming blue skyscape points to the urgency of safety, the necessity of comfort.
Filled, Positive, and Safe II
Loudemar
Cloud Chart
During our phone conversation, at Robyn’s urging, Louis played some bars from a song he’d recently written during a two-week residency in Sheboygan, WI.
I could hear the faint chords of a keyboard starting, maybe some drum machines--mobile phones were not the ideal performance medium--but suddenly Louis’ voice came through disarmingly clear, confident, beautiful.
Filled with his trademark observational humor and wordplay, he wrapped up his second verse, “Oooooh, Sheboygan/Oooooh, Sheboygan.” The lo-fi sound gave it a bedroom pop sheen.
Louis’ musical talents are far ranging. He has played with fellow Project Onward artist Adam Hines and a rotating cast of other musicians as Lightning Speed, (previously DHF Express). In YouTube videos of the band at in-house gigs, Louis has a rock ‘n’ roll swagger as he sings and plays bass to “Talking in your Sleep” and “The One I love”. Among his musical idols are: Chris Martin, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Bob Geldof, Michael Stipe, Lindsey Buckingham, Thom Yorke, Robert Smith, and David Byrne, who owns a lot of Louis’ work.
He began playing music, like his other arts, at an early age, playing keyboards, drums, and bass in addition to writing music. Robyn explains that he’s hyperlexic, meaning he began to read, write, and explore music and other art forms at an early age, deeply interested in the meaning of symbols and sounds. He can hear a song or a lick once or twice and pick it up by ear.
He composed all the music for Toaster’s and intends to write more as the show is fleshed out.
Louis continues to expand the mediums he works in, recently creating his first NFT. The GIF depicts a scene at two Toaster’s characters’ apartment, with Cheers playing on a TV in the background and Louis’ music playing over it.
He’ll continue to draw from his world--his supportive community of family and friends, his stable of nostalgic sitcoms and music, his experiences--to create worlds, build narratives, understand and help himself and help others feel “Filled, Positive, and Safe”.
Everyone Needs Music
All images courtesy Project Onward
More information about Louis and Project Onward can be found: HERE
Grant Scott-Goforth is a contributing writer for the North Coast Journal. He is a fan of beer, music, movies, art, animals, bikes, and rivers, all in shuffling order. Find him @GScottGoforth