John A. Douglas b. 1960

  • Artist (Digital Artist/Designer),
  • Artist (Installation Artist),
  • Artist (Video Artist)
John A. Douglas, intermedia artist, has primarily worked in digital and analogue photomedia and video installation. His performative works explore and critique notions of cultural and gender identities.
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Jessie Douglas
1960
Artist (Draughtsman), Artist (Painter)

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Biography <p>John A. Douglas, intermedia artist, has primarily worked in digital and analogue photomedia and video installation. Douglas was born in Sydney in 1960. Douglas studied Fine Arts at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, completing his Bachelor's degree in 2002 and receiving his Masters of Fine Arts by Research in 2008.<br /> </p><p>

Douglas' performative works explore and critique notions of cultural and gender identities. They examine the fragmented mythologies and narratives of identity and place, giving new contexts to Australian masculinity and culture. In his 2010 exhibition, 'Strange Land Vol. 1', held at the Penrith Regional Gallery, Douglas presented images of Glen Davis, NSW, an abandoned mining town, depicting a variety of characters, including a squatter, young seminarian, English wife, waitress, miner and scientist, each exploring and connecting with the landscape. These works serve as metaphors for the golden age of a rural and industrial Australia, although it is uncertain whether they are nostalgic and utopian in sentiment or the subjects of a deep and cynical critique.<br /> <br />
Douglas has exhibited widely in solo and group shows, both nationally and internationally. His solo exhibitions include 'Strange Land Vol. I' (2010) at the Penrith Regional Gallery &amp; the Lewers Bequest, Emu Plains, NSW; 'Strange Land Vol. I' (2010), 'Screen Test' (2008), and 'James Dean Jesus' (2007) at Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney; 'Screen Test' (2008) at Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney; 'Screen Test #3' (2005) at blank_space, Sydney; and 'Screen Idol' (2005) at the Sherman Galleries, Sydney. In addition, he has participated in the following group exhibitions: 'New Ideas' (2010) at Government House, Sydney, in collaboration with the Historic Houses Trust; 'Reality Check' (2009) at the Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery &amp; Arts Centre, Gymea, NSW; 'Neo Gothic: Back In Black' (2008) at the University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane; and 'Australian Gothic' (2008) at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.<br /> <br />
Douglas has been the recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award from 2004-06 and an Australia Council for the Arts New Works Grant in 2008. He has been a finalist in numerous art prizes, including the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize at the Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, in 2008; the Citigroup Photographic Portrait Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2005; and the Conrad Jupiters Gold Coast Art Prize in 2005. Douglas' work has been held in private collections since 2003. In 2009 Douglas was featured in an episode of ABC's Artscape program, which documented the artist participating in 'Reality Check: Watching Sylvania Waters', an exhibition at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery &amp; Arts Centre. </p> <br /><br />