Ed Douglas: Cornerstones

January 14 - February 20, 2021

About The Show

The paintings in this show are of three subjects. The first series, Quarry Rocks, that comprise the majority of paintings in the show, began in the 1970's at a quarry in the Adirondacks. My working routine began with drawings on site followed by paintings in the studio. Detailed depictions of rocks never interested me. My concerns were color constructs of the natural crevasses, fissures and passages within the rocks.

The use of cardboard squeegees allowed for a freer application of paint and scraping tools exposed under colors wherein lines, edges and groupings appeared from the residue of previous ground colors. Collage was employed as well. Each painting began with a single colored ground, a color complexion, that suggested complementary and analogous color choices unrestricted by the local colors of the subject.

The Cathedral series, the second subject, began in the 1980's with a trip to prehistoric stone burial sites and Gothic cathedrals. The church and its surrounds offered a broader relationship with the cathedral oftentimes treated as a block of color floating in a colored void or other times cut off by encroaching buildings, as was often the case in their urban settings.

The third subject: Cemetery, from the mid '80's. I passed by a cemetery daily on my walk to the studio that led to an ongoing series once I recognized the interplay between the tall, slim bent gravestones scattered throughout weaving pathways interrupted by a broken and gated iron fence. Oftentimes the reworked paintings developed into less hidden geometry. - Ed Douglas

Featured Artist

Featured

Ed Douglas

Ed Douglas, the retired Chair of the art department at the Maine College of Art, is known for beautiful color combinations academically and thoughtfully laid to surface, deriving inspiration from classic Impressionist masterpieces.