Art On An Island: Brian Adam Douglas

Brian Adam Douglas enjoyed his first solo UK show last night at Black Rat Press. Always sure to be a good evening, the night didn't disappoint.

Brian's work (known also as Elbow Toe) is a bit atypical for the gallery in that Brian doesn't fit in to the stereotypical 'street artist' category. As opposed to previous shows with Roa or Swoon this felt different. Much had to do with the fact that there was no spray paint in this show.

The show was also a book launch for Brian's new book Paper Cuts, published by Drago. Brian was kind enough to sign the book for anyone who asked and also, later in the evening, even sketched some of us (pic below).

The works are all collages. Though that's a massive diservice to what they are. 1000s of pieces of paper are cut and molded to create these designs. From afar they look like paintings, and even on closer inspection it's hard to believe the detail. For example, the picture below which is of a sectoin of the Tradition piece, all of the stripes on the shirt are different pieces of paper. There's no paint in the face, those are all hand cut pieces of a paper.

Tradition

I imagine it's always a good thing when you're showing your work and the most common coment heard through the night was some variation of 'that's amazing'. To see it up close is to both enjoy the scene and appreciate the labor that went behind each one.

The piece below, The Memory of You is Not Lost on Me, is the largest piece he's done to date. It's 81 3/4 x 54 3/4 inches and on birch wood. It was priced at £20,000 and like everything else in the show, had sold. It also took Brian 3 months to complete it, working 10-12 hour days. Absolutely incredible.

There are some more pictures below, but it is no means a comprehensive list of what was there. Definitely go check it out before the show ends.