Doug Bartlett
Doug Bartlett
BIO
Doug Bartlett is the name given to the energy created when Nick Morris and Dave Bowers work together on the same canvas. Nick Morris and Dave Bowers graduated from Monash University (Caulfield) in 1986, both with Diplomas in Graphic Design. They have worked together in the Street / Surf / Art subculture since creating clothing label - UMGAWA in 1990. After selling the UMGAWA label, Morris worked as art director for Quiksilver. He then launched - anyhow, his own freelance design company in Torquay. Bowers became a regular Mambo artist, as well as working as an illustrator and musician. Between them they have produced, and continue to produce, art for brands such as Paul Frank, Stussy, Mossimo, Lee, Globe, and St. Lenny.
They were guest speakers at the prestigious Semi Permanent Art and Design conference 2006 in Sydney and Perth. Their work was profiled in Desktop Magazine (Jan/Feb 07), and their painting - THE GAMBLER, only the third canvas they ever painted together, featured on the cover. They will be speaking at AGIdeas in Melbourne in April 2008. Their art has also been published in Marvi Magazine, double page spreads in Useless in Europe, Empty magazine, Semi Permanent Sydney 2004 (8 pages), 2005, Semi Permanent New York book. They have also been profiled in King Brown magazine (issue No1). Their combined canvases at ART MELBOURNE 07 sold out in two days. This was the first time they had shown them in Melbourne.
They have exhibited at Fresh Gallery in Melbourne, Ho Gallery in Melbourne and Tiger Fish in Torquay. The prices have tripled in the last eighteen months after an enormously successful showing at Art Sydney. After trucking down the Hume Highway the night before the show and sleeping in the back of the car at a truck stop, art was walking out the door from the outset of the show. An empty trailer was the vision for the journey back and it soon became a reality. They are currently exhibiting at Space Junk gallery in France with Hong Kong in March. With collectors buying from all over the country and also internationally it is boom town for Doug Bartlett and his lackys.
- Morris and Bowers canvases indicate that freshness is still possible in a culture exhausted by all sorts of visual bombardment.
Dr. Claudia Calirman, New York Museum of Fine Art
ARTIST STATEMENT
-We open up the roller door to the garage in Torquay and let rip. With a few beers, and the music turned up, we throw ourselves into the canvases. Slabs of colour are slapped down haphazardly and images are layered on at random. A lot of this initial work won't survive the painting process because we have a rule that says: 'you can paint over anything, and the other one can't protest'. Whole vistas appear and disappear. Hours of work can be swept away with one brutal sweep of a brush. 'Doug has entered the building' is the only explanation required.
This process, which is confronting as well as cleansing, continues until we both agree the painting is finished. Working this way creates a feverish momentum, and we can be working on up to forty paintings at a time.
The canvases are a free-flowing exchange of random images and themes, and are applied using stencils, spray paint, silkscreen and freehand, using acrylic paint and oil stick. We glean material from mass popular culture, including quotes from celebrities and words lifted directly from spam text."
Morris -I am inspired by the iconic images of my childhood in Ballarat. Australian symbols like 'Hoges', GT Falcons and Monaros permeated every fibre of my being. I still remember staring in awe at my father's friend's sparkly green speedboat named 'anyhow..'.
These images, along with cartoons, pop stars and religious icons, were my childhood landscape. I also loved the random patterns and textures of all the stickers on the wardrobe in my room. Some half ripped off and others half-stuck over another. These symbols and aesthetics form the basis of my art.
Our rule of painting over anything you want creates art with no boundaries, free from clinging and being too precious, and the creative process is accelerated as we bounce off each other."
Bowers -Aesthetically I find inspiration comes from anywhere any time. I find myself mesmerized by what I call incidental urban micro landscapes, like the patterns of road repairs, or chewing gum on the footpath; symbols, numbers and letters on power poles; the accidental tracks and patterns we leave as a species. I find the process of decay quite beautiful rust, peeling paint etc. The fine line between beauty and ugliness.
I create cartoon characters that would fail a Disney audition. They look too sad, too eager to please, too dumb, too angry or they haven't aged well. For me these characters represent the imperfect masses. I get a huge kick out of sharing canvases because of the chaotic momentum. Working alone you can sometimes labour over a detail for hours, but with a shared canvas, someone else (Doug) will just boldly paint right over it and I'll think what a bloody relief."
EDUCATION
Both Nick Morris and Dave Bowers completed the following:
1986 - Diploma Graphic Design - Chisholm Institute Caulfield - VIC
EXHIBITIONS
2012 | ArtHamptons, Retrospect Galleries - New York, USA
2012 | Affordable Art Fair Melbourne with Retrospect Galleries - Melbourne - VIC
2012 I Affordable Art Fair New York with Retrospect Galleries - NEW YORK
2011 | Affordable Art Fair Singapore with Retrospect Galleries - SINGAPORE
2011 | Affordable Art Fair Melbourne with Retrospect Galleries - Melbourne - VIC
2011 | Double Extra Super - Solo Show - Retrospect Galleries - Broadbeach - NSW
2010 | Petits Travaux - Retrospect Galleries - Byron Bay - NSW
2012 | HOGAN GALLERY Melbourne - VIC
2012 | SALT GALLERY - Queenscliff
2011 | ART TORONTO - Toronto - Canada
2011 | LINTON & KAY Perth - WA 2011 - SALT GALLERY - Queenscliff
2011 | RETROSPECT GALLERIES Gold Coast - QLD
2010 | GREENWOOD GALLERY 2010 - ART SYDNEY
2010 | SPACEJUNK FRANCE 2010 - IAIN DAWSON GALLERY
2010 | Affordable Art Fair New York - New York - USA
2010 | SEVENTY SEVEN GALLERY Austin Texas - USA
2010 | HARRISON GALLERY - Sydney - NSW
2010 | ART MELBOURNE - VIC
2010 | GALLERY ON STURT - Ballarat - VIC
2010 | ART WHINO MD USA
2010 | UFO GALLERY - Hong Kong
2009 | ART SYDNEY - NSW
2009 | GLOBAL BOOM - Retrospect gallery Byron Bay - NSW
2009 | ART MELBOURNE - VIC
2009 | Free Radical - Greenwood Gallery - Sth Melbourne - VIC
2009 | Doug Bartlett Rides Again - Cooper Gallery - Noosa - NSW
2008 | 12x12 - Retrospect Galleries - Byron Bay - NSW
2008 | Dave Bowers solo - Marios - Brunswick St - Melbourne - VIC
2008 | Nick Morris solo - Tiger Fish Gallery - Torquay - VIC
2008 | Yerring Station - Yarrah Valley - VIC
2008 | Where Mighty Giants Dwell - Retrospect Galleries - Byron Bay - NSW
2008 | Urban Art - Harrison Gallery - Sydney - NSW
2008 | Doug Bartlett Stand - Art Brisbane - QLD
2008 | Doug Bartlett Stand - Art Melbourne - VIC
2008 | Gaffer Gallery - Hong Kong
2008 | Hogan Gallery - Melbourne - VIC
2008 | Spacejunk Gallery - France
2007 | Brunswick St Gallery - Melbourne - VIC
2007 | Doug Bartlett Stand - Art Melbourne - VIC
2007 | Doug Bartlett Stand - Art Sydney - NSW
2007 | Tiger Fish Gallery - Torquay - VIC
2007 | Fresh Gallery - Brunswick - Melbourne - VIC
2007 | Ho Gallery - Melbourne - VIC
COLLECTIONS
Private collections throughout Australia and Internationally.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2011 | InRetrospect 11 - Annual book published by Retrospect Galleries
2010 | Cover - Hoodoo Gurus Album
2009 | InRetrospect 10 - Annual Book published by Retrospect Galleries
2008 | July/August Edition - Inside Out magazine
Oyster world fashion magazine,
The Red Flag - 2 page spread - an opinion leader magazine and a premium sport fashion magazine distributed throughout Europe, UK, New York and other major cities.
Featured in Make Me a Supermodel - Channel 7
15 Page spread - Spacejunk magazine - France
Marvi Magazine - New York - USA
Cover - Desktop
Empty magazine
2005 | 8 pages - Semi Permanent Book New York edition
2004 | 8 pages - Semi Permanent Book Sydney - NSW
Profile - King Brown magazine (issue No1)
Doug Bartlett is the name given to the energy created when Nick Morris and Dave Bowers work together on the same canvas. Nick Morris and Dave Bowers graduated from Monash University (Caulfield) in 1986, both with Diplomas in Graphic Design. They have worked together in the Street / Surf / Art subculture since creating clothing label - UMGAWA in 1990. After selling the UMGAWA label, Morris worked as art director for Quiksilver. He then launched - anyhow, his own freelance design company in Torquay. Bowers became a regular Mambo artist, as well as working as an illustrator and musician. Between them they have produced, and continue to produce, art for brands such as Paul Frank, Stussy, Mossimo, Lee, Globe, and St. Lenny.
They were guest speakers at the prestigious Semi Permanent Art and Design conference 2006 in Sydney and Perth. Their work was profiled in Desktop Magazine (Jan/Feb 07), and their painting - THE GAMBLER, only the third canvas they ever painted together, featured on the cover. They will be speaking at AGIdeas in Melbourne in April 2008. Their art has also been published in Marvi Magazine, double page spreads in Useless in Europe, Empty magazine, Semi Permanent Sydney 2004 (8 pages), 2005, Semi Permanent New York book. They have also been profiled in King Brown magazine (issue No1). Their combined canvases at ART MELBOURNE 07 sold out in two days. This was the first time they had shown them in Melbourne.
They have exhibited at Fresh Gallery in Melbourne, Ho Gallery in Melbourne and Tiger Fish in Torquay. The prices have tripled in the last eighteen months after an enormously successful showing at Art Sydney. After trucking down the Hume Highway the night before the show and sleeping in the back of the car at a truck stop, art was walking out the door from the outset of the show. An empty trailer was the vision for the journey back and it soon became a reality. They are currently exhibiting at Space Junk gallery in France with Hong Kong in March. With collectors buying from all over the country and also internationally it is boom town for Doug Bartlett and his lackys.
- Morris and Bowers canvases indicate that freshness is still possible in a culture exhausted by all sorts of visual bombardment.
Dr. Claudia Calirman, New York Museum of Fine Art
ARTIST STATEMENT
-We open up the roller door to the garage in Torquay and let rip. With a few beers, and the music turned up, we throw ourselves into the canvases. Slabs of colour are slapped down haphazardly and images are layered on at random. A lot of this initial work won't survive the painting process because we have a rule that says: 'you can paint over anything, and the other one can't protest'. Whole vistas appear and disappear. Hours of work can be swept away with one brutal sweep of a brush. 'Doug has entered the building' is the only explanation required.
This process, which is confronting as well as cleansing, continues until we both agree the painting is finished. Working this way creates a feverish momentum, and we can be working on up to forty paintings at a time.
The canvases are a free-flowing exchange of random images and themes, and are applied using stencils, spray paint, silkscreen and freehand, using acrylic paint and oil stick. We glean material from mass popular culture, including quotes from celebrities and words lifted directly from spam text."
Morris -I am inspired by the iconic images of my childhood in Ballarat. Australian symbols like 'Hoges', GT Falcons and Monaros permeated every fibre of my being. I still remember staring in awe at my father's friend's sparkly green speedboat named 'anyhow..'.
These images, along with cartoons, pop stars and religious icons, were my childhood landscape. I also loved the random patterns and textures of all the stickers on the wardrobe in my room. Some half ripped off and others half-stuck over another. These symbols and aesthetics form the basis of my art.
Our rule of painting over anything you want creates art with no boundaries, free from clinging and being too precious, and the creative process is accelerated as we bounce off each other."
Bowers -Aesthetically I find inspiration comes from anywhere any time. I find myself mesmerized by what I call incidental urban micro landscapes, like the patterns of road repairs, or chewing gum on the footpath; symbols, numbers and letters on power poles; the accidental tracks and patterns we leave as a species. I find the process of decay quite beautiful rust, peeling paint etc. The fine line between beauty and ugliness.
I create cartoon characters that would fail a Disney audition. They look too sad, too eager to please, too dumb, too angry or they haven't aged well. For me these characters represent the imperfect masses. I get a huge kick out of sharing canvases because of the chaotic momentum. Working alone you can sometimes labour over a detail for hours, but with a shared canvas, someone else (Doug) will just boldly paint right over it and I'll think what a bloody relief."
EDUCATION
Both Nick Morris and Dave Bowers completed the following:
1986 - Diploma Graphic Design - Chisholm Institute Caulfield - VIC
EXHIBITIONS
2012 | ArtHamptons, Retrospect Galleries - New York, USA
2012 | Affordable Art Fair Melbourne with Retrospect Galleries - Melbourne - VIC
2012 I Affordable Art Fair New York with Retrospect Galleries - NEW YORK
2011 | Affordable Art Fair Singapore with Retrospect Galleries - SINGAPORE
2011 | Affordable Art Fair Melbourne with Retrospect Galleries - Melbourne - VIC
2011 | Double Extra Super - Solo Show - Retrospect Galleries - Broadbeach - NSW
2010 | Petits Travaux - Retrospect Galleries - Byron Bay - NSW
2012 | HOGAN GALLERY Melbourne - VIC
2012 | SALT GALLERY - Queenscliff
2011 | ART TORONTO - Toronto - Canada
2011 | LINTON & KAY Perth - WA 2011 - SALT GALLERY - Queenscliff
2011 | RETROSPECT GALLERIES Gold Coast - QLD
2010 | GREENWOOD GALLERY 2010 - ART SYDNEY
2010 | SPACEJUNK FRANCE 2010 - IAIN DAWSON GALLERY
2010 | Affordable Art Fair New York - New York - USA
2010 | SEVENTY SEVEN GALLERY Austin Texas - USA
2010 | HARRISON GALLERY - Sydney - NSW
2010 | ART MELBOURNE - VIC
2010 | GALLERY ON STURT - Ballarat - VIC
2010 | ART WHINO MD USA
2010 | UFO GALLERY - Hong Kong
2009 | ART SYDNEY - NSW
2009 | GLOBAL BOOM - Retrospect gallery Byron Bay - NSW
2009 | ART MELBOURNE - VIC
2009 | Free Radical - Greenwood Gallery - Sth Melbourne - VIC
2009 | Doug Bartlett Rides Again - Cooper Gallery - Noosa - NSW
2008 | 12x12 - Retrospect Galleries - Byron Bay - NSW
2008 | Dave Bowers solo - Marios - Brunswick St - Melbourne - VIC
2008 | Nick Morris solo - Tiger Fish Gallery - Torquay - VIC
2008 | Yerring Station - Yarrah Valley - VIC
2008 | Where Mighty Giants Dwell - Retrospect Galleries - Byron Bay - NSW
2008 | Urban Art - Harrison Gallery - Sydney - NSW
2008 | Doug Bartlett Stand - Art Brisbane - QLD
2008 | Doug Bartlett Stand - Art Melbourne - VIC
2008 | Gaffer Gallery - Hong Kong
2008 | Hogan Gallery - Melbourne - VIC
2008 | Spacejunk Gallery - France
2007 | Brunswick St Gallery - Melbourne - VIC
2007 | Doug Bartlett Stand - Art Melbourne - VIC
2007 | Doug Bartlett Stand - Art Sydney - NSW
2007 | Tiger Fish Gallery - Torquay - VIC
2007 | Fresh Gallery - Brunswick - Melbourne - VIC
2007 | Ho Gallery - Melbourne - VIC
COLLECTIONS
Private collections throughout Australia and Internationally.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2011 | InRetrospect 11 - Annual book published by Retrospect Galleries
2010 | Cover - Hoodoo Gurus Album
2009 | InRetrospect 10 - Annual Book published by Retrospect Galleries
2008 | July/August Edition - Inside Out magazine
Oyster world fashion magazine,
The Red Flag - 2 page spread - an opinion leader magazine and a premium sport fashion magazine distributed throughout Europe, UK, New York and other major cities.
Featured in Make Me a Supermodel - Channel 7
15 Page spread - Spacejunk magazine - France
Marvi Magazine - New York - USA
Cover - Desktop
Empty magazine
2005 | 8 pages - Semi Permanent Book New York edition
2004 | 8 pages - Semi Permanent Book Sydney - NSW
Profile - King Brown magazine (issue No1)
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