Biography from a third party submitted on 07/09/2006:
| Doug Webb is a self-taught artist who has achieved making painting his sole support for the past 25 years. Born in Istanbul, Turkey he was brought to the United States at a very young age and grew up in California. Residing in Calabasas, Webb has participated in a multitude of national and international exhibitions.
His works are in many private and public collections, most notably the collections of: The White House, Washington, D.C.; Price Pfister, Pacific Palisades, California; Holt, Rinehart, and Winston Publishing, Austin, Texas; Malcom Forbes, New Jersey; Michael Caine, Beverly Hills; and Hiroshi Niiyama, Osaka, Japan.
The shear technical artistry of Doug Webb's patiently wrought paintings is qute remarkable. However, his real artistry goes beyond creating photo-surrealistic canvases. It lies rather in using photo-realism to first lull the viewer into rapidly accepting a seemingly familiar landscape or visual icon only to be jarred upon closer examination by its pointed juxtaposition of the impossible. Webb, in short, draws us into a surreal world of the imagination where very real things are paired, but in a very unreal way.
Willfully disdainful of novelties and fads, Webb's focus has remained consistent for the past 25 years; he works slowly, in the manner of the Old Masters, yet he acknowledges a kinship with the Surrealists. Using Magritte-like contrasts in scale and polarity of location or situation, Webb presents us with provocative insight on society and culture. Often his unexpected mixtures mirror the ironies, discontent, and hopefulness, we frequently find in our own daily lives.
To create these ultra-realistic works, Webb uses quite small brushes and executes six to eight layers of transparent glazes over layers of paint.
Artist statement:
My medium is acrylic paint on linen canvas. I isolate each transparent
wash with a gel medium glaze to create texture and depth. My ideas come
to me as visions. Many times these visions come from the hypnagogic
state known as the unconscious middle zone between wake and sleep. The
strength of my work lies in the reconciliation of opposites -- the
humdrumness of urban living with the dream of utopia based in nature.
With the use of composite imagery and shifts of scale between everyday
scenes, situations and common objects, I weave a tapestry blending
threads of satire, irony, conflict, and hope. Painting is and has been
my sole support for twenty-five years, thus, survival as an artist is
my greatest challenge and goal. My artistic goals are to keep the
integrity of my work intact in the midst of novelty and passing fads,
while recording my impressions of society, culture and environment for
the good of humanity.
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