BLUE MOUNTAIN GALLERY

Industrial Dreams is an exhibition of new paintings by Douglas Anderson. The works on display express the joy of painting and the silent rhythm of life in visual form. Though not literally referencing “Industrial” landscapes, the works evoke Anderson’s youth growing up in Cleveland when the city was at the crest of its status as an industrial center. His practice is one of seeking and discovery, of not knowing what will happen; it is in this space that, for him, symbolic forms emerge. Many of the works take on the character of landscape, often of an urban character, of forms growing, turning and evolving. The language of painting is evident in these works in contrasts of wet and dry, fast and slow, control and loss of control, line and tone, bright colors and dull, and black and white.  

Long involved in the theatre, creating sets for television and movies, Anderson refers to his past involvement in the theater in subtle ways: the use of black as a color, for example, and because film production often happens in abandoned or repurposed industrial spaces - the connection between the world of his youth and his professional life were made manifest as well as the frisson between memory and representation which remains provocative for the artist. “In my work, I allow my imagination free rein, and I hope the observer of my work feels, likewise, free to interpret as they please. Ultimately, though, it’s the pleasure of looking that I hope to inspire.”