What's behind Paul McDermott's 'wolf man' transformation? Tim Ferguson's life post TV Another former Doug Anthony All Stars, Tim Ferguson discusses his career and his battle with MS. PT6M45S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2ubv3 620 349 September 24, 2013 Ok people. Yes, it's Paul McDermott. Yes, he has a beard. We know him as the sharply-dressed, clean-shaven television host, performer and former Doug Anthony All Star. Paul McDermott speaks to ANU school of Art students at his exhibtion, The Dark Garden. But it was McDermott the hirsute artist who showed off his exhibition The Dark Garden in Canberra this week. He was virtually unrecognisable with his thick beard and he was reveling in a persona that was far and away from the television veneer. At the moment, he says he wants to be "wolf man" rather than "poodle." "I'm a multiple number of people and I'm often unrecognisable to close friends and family," he said. There are various different glasses and all sorts of different looks. I just think it's one of the joys of life to be able to transform into different creatures. I like that and I've always like that. It affords me a little bit of anonymity in various parts of the world, as well, which is a joy for me. If you're wanting absolutely honesty, when I'm doing television I'm so primped and pampered and coiffured and made up, I feel like some damn poodle. And it's just such a fake thing that you are this thing that's been fashioned to be visually acceptable in that medium. So when I'm not doing that work, I tend to become quite feral. I sometimes shave my head completely. Or I let my hair grow and I become the wolf man. He had tried his best to block out Canberra's powerful light in the airy space of M16 to create a darkened dreamscape where people walk through velvet curtains into the myths, fairytales, childhood memories and career artefacts that inform his exhibition. And while McDermott did let loose with a few choice words about the state of television in Australia, he has not given up completely on the medium and hopes to one day return to the small screen. He'd just like to see a return to the glory days of the 1980s and 1990s, when he says good local television was being made.