Architect Douglas Blake, born in Wollongong in 1963, began drawing from an early age. His family moved to the Central Coast when Blake was four years old and in his teens Blake exhibited some early drawings in the Central Coast and Toukley Arts societies (1982-85). His interest in drawing and sketching led him into architectural drafting prior to completing a Bachelor of Arts (Architecture) and a Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Technology, Sydney, between 1995 and 2000. With business partner Derek Brooke, Blake established the architectural firm T.A.N.K (Thoughts. Analysis. Notions. Knowledge).
Throughout his training Blake continued to draw and paint in oil, acrylic or mixed media. Whether depicting urban or rural landscapes, or portraits, Blake explores a broad array of ideas and modes of representation and covers a range of approaches from realism through to abstraction. Some paintings are clearly inspired by Jackson Pollock’s action painting; others by James Gleeson’s surrealist imagery. Blake even extends his abstraction to a series of self-portraits which attempt a fusion between art and architecture, the two having played an integral role within his life. At times, free forms and curves are juxtaposed with the linear, rigid and angular.
His sometimes panoramic landscapes make use of realistic motifs even when referencing much broader issues, such as religion and world events. For Blake, this provides another dimension and sense of depth within works. An image of a cow in a golden pasture may at first glance appear to conform to a tradition of bucolic landscapes until one spots the miniscule cross in the background, transforming the piece into a reverie on distances between religions – the cow is sourced from the Islamic holy book, the Quran, whose second chapter is known as 'The Cow’ (Al-Baqarah) and deals with genesis and creation. Here Blake is commenting specifically on the currently strained relationship between Christianity and Islam, despite their monotheistic traditions sharing similar origins.
Blake regards the initial experimental act of applying paint to canvas as akin to what he sees as a 'rawness’ and spareness, qualities that he admires in the elemental and paired back architecture of Tadao Ando, whose works he saw first hand in 2003. In 2008, Blake returned to art precedents for inspiration, in particular addressing a detail in the painting by Roman neo-classicist Vincenzo Camuccini (d. 1844) Mort de Cèsar (1793-1806, Capodimonte, Naples). This was inspired by an image which Blake came across online and is a departure from previous inspirations for his art.
In 2005 Blake exhibited in the Mary Place Gallery exhibition 'In the sole of the architect’ with other artist/architects including Dale Jones-Evans, Steffan Lehmann and Julius Bokor.
- Writers:
- De Lorenzo, Dr Catherine
Akbar, Nikki
- Date written:
- 2008
- Last updated:
- 2009
