About the Artist
My work documents a spiritual search for a direct perception in consciousness of the foundation of Reality. Over the course of my life I have endeavored to understand how consciousness reveals and conditions our perceptions of the world. In my late teens I determined that thinking alone was too limited a tool so I turned to art and then meditation as well. It has gotten me further and given me a guide to a loving life but revealed impenetrable mysteries as well. I love those mysteries and that has lead me willy-nilly to a primarily non-representational style built from both a biomorphic and a geometric vocabulary rich with ambiguity and suggestion that I hope will help open a heart as well as engage the mind. I never know where it will go next, but my art necessarily continues to evolve as a reflection of my changing perceptions.
Doug Gilbert in his studio
"Betwixt" 2023 acrylic on canvas 18 x 24
What is a Painting as Art?
As I see it, an artwork presents an intermediate reality between the natural sense perceived world and the non-sensual interior objects of consciousness. The work itself is of course a sense-perceived natural object, but the organization of form and color originates in consciousness and is not in itself part of the natural ecological framework that supports our physical existence. My work, being done using my body (as opposed to using electronics) also implicitly maps the mechanical structure of a human being. I believe this creates a synergy between the world of consciousness and that of physical nature that potentially presents a complete human perception of our Reality. The artwork does not represent anything. The apparent objects in the framed space are perceptual constructions of our consciousness and the material the work is composed of simply is, just like a tree or the sky. None of it requires interpretation. Because the patterns have a source in another human being, they may resonate in you and produce thoughts and emotions. Those are objects of your consciousness. It may be that the origin of those evoked objects is the same as the origin of mine. Insofar as they are, the artwork serves to remind us in a profound way that we are not so separate as we think. This commonality, for me, is the root of the Reality of everything and I am in love with it.